Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness
by FrenziedFalc0n
Summary: All was well, was being the keyword. After dropping off his two sons at Kings Cross to go to Hogwarts, Harry thought the most stressful part of his year was coming to a close, but an unexpected meeting reveals a new darkness. Can Harry keep the darkness at bay? Or will it consume everyone he loves?
1. The Calm Before the Storm

**Author's Note and Disclaimers:**

I generally don't like to write Author's Notes, as I'd prefer the actual writing to stand on its own without me explaining things outside of the work. However, I thought for this first installment, one was necessary. This is a story I started nearly two years ago, and abandoned after sixteen chapters because I lost the drive to complete it. I am currently deployed, and as such, have ample time to return to and hopefully finish the story. My writing style has changed a bit, though, so I will be rewriting the previous chapters and possibly removing some of them altogether. **If you are interested in the original, I will not be deleting it, but it will not be updated.** I welcome any and all reviews, good or bad, and look forward to updating this story as often as possible. **I do not own Harry Potter, obviously, but I do hope I can do the universe that was created by J.K. Rowling justice.**

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Remastered)

Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

The start of a new term at school was always a strange time in the Potter house. Harry looked around the kitchen, "It feels odd, the house being so empty, he thought aloud. Of course, the house was not at all empty, it still bore all the signs of the loving family that lived within. Pictures of the Potters adorned the walls smiling outward and interacting with one another the way all photos did in the wizarding world. Near the staircase, leading up to the children's bedrooms, lay the pile of items he and Ginny had confiscated from James prior to allowing him to leave the house this morning. Harry suspected that, despite their best efforts, they had missed quite a few items which were sure to make their way back to the house via owls from Neville, the head of Gryphindor House.

Lily was still at home also, sulking about the music room, occasionally tapping the keys on the small piano that she and Albus had begged Harry to get them for Christmas a few years prior. Harry thought they were both excellent, almost prodigious, pianists. Harry took this moment to comfort his daughter, "You know, there's a room at Hogwarts, I'll have to show you where it is, that I expect would furnish a Grand Piano if you wanted it too."

"Really?" Lily's eyes lit up at the thought of having access to such an instrument.

"Of course," Harry replied, sitting down beside her. "I expect it would furnish a whole orchestra's worth of instruments if you needed it to."

"Do you think there will be other children that play instruments at the school?" Lily asked looking up at him, "All James ever talks about is quidditch, and I'm awful at quidditch." Harry looked down at her thoughtfully and remembered something Dumbledore had said on his very first night at Hogwarts.

"Of course, Lily." He said staring into his daughter's eyes, they were nearly identical to his own, though she clearly got her hair from the Weasley side, "A great man once told me that music was a greater magic than any taught at Hogwarts. Admittedly, at the time I thought him mad, but seeing you and your brother with your music has utterly changed my perspective." Lily beamed up at him and he pecked her on the forehead, "Now, go get ready, your mother and I have a party to get to."

The Weasley clan always got together on the first day of school, free of most of the children. The children that weren't already in school were usually stolen away by Arthur and Molly Weasley as quickly as possible. Harry looked at Ginny, who was moving like a tornado between her writing desk and the kitchen, preparing for the quickly approaching party. "You know, I can help with the cooking if you're busy with a story. I promise I won't burn the house down," Harry said, over the sound of the wireless blaring _Quidditch Today,_ Ginny's favorite source of entertainment, even though the vast majority of the information came from her reports. Harry expected she only listened to it to stroke her own ego.

This was the busiest time of the year for the Potter household. The start of the professional quidditch season came along quickly after the start of the school year. Since ending her playing career to pursue the life of a journalist, Ginny was much busier than she had ever been as a player. At least back then she had the off-season.

"I'm okay," Ginny said, absentmindedly as she moved from the desk back to the stovetop, "I just wish we could have apparated back instead of taking that bloody car to King's Cross." She slipped on the damp floor just as she said this, which would have been a disaster as she was holding a tray of hot biscuits. The disaster was averted, though, when Harry caught her around the waist. She only dropped one of the biscuits, which Harry promptly removed from the floor.

"Five second rule," He said, before biting into it and burning his tongue. Ginny seemed to find this amusing. "You really should slow down, Gin," Harry said after painfully swallowing the much too hot first bite. "You don't want to tire yourself out before the party."

"I'll slow down when the season starts," Ginny said, "The preseason is the only time my job is more fun than actually playing." With that, she moved swiftly back to her writing desk before looking back at Harry. "That shirt needs to be pressed, by the way. It's far too wrinkled to wear to the party."

Harry looked down at his shirt and laughed, "You sound more like Molly every day, you know?" He unbuttoned the shirt and threw it over the back of the desk chair, which had been pushed out of the way of the desk when Ginny had decided to multi-task. "Maybe I'll just go shirtless tonight," Harry joked.

"First, you had better be talking about mum, not Percy's spoiled whelp," Ginny said, tossing a grape at him, "and second, as much as I would enjoy that... I'm not sure that any establishment in wizarding Britain is going to abide a shirtless Harry Potter running around."

"I wouldn't dream of comparing you to our precious niece," Harry replied, running his wand up and down his shirt and watching the wrinkles disappear. "Speaking of nieces, do you think George and Angelina will be bringing Roxie tonight?"

"I doubt it," Ginny replied, "she always has trouble coping when her brother leaves for school. Mum will probably have already whisked her off to the Burrow." Molly did always have a way with calming her grandchildren, although Harry had often suspected it had much more to do with the Burrow itself, as it had always been one of the places Harry felt the most at peace when he was growing up. "Do you think we should drop off Lily before the party?"

"Only if Hugo is already there. Lily would never forgive us if we left her behind while Ron and Hermione brought him," Harry said, "I'll check with Ron." He walked to the fireplace and casually tossed in a bit of the green floo powder from the bowl atop the mantle. He stepped into the green flames and said clearly, "Ron's Flat." As he spun out of existence in his own home, he heard his wife shout for him to hurry back.

Harry arrived in his best friends' loft just in time to be hit in the face by a crumpled-up piece of parchment. After recovering from the initial shock, he laughed, "Hard at work, I see."

Ron looked up at his friend stepping out of the fireplace and as the flames returned to their usual orange color he grumbled. "I never thought a joke shop would come with so much bloody paperwork. I swear it's like writing one of McGonagall's papers every single day, and without Hermione's help." He pulled a new roll of parchment from the desk and harry noticed the pile of discarded parchment on the ground. "I'd go back to being an Auror right now if I didn't think Hermione would kill me on the spot."

"I'm just thankful you didn't throw the ink bottle," Harry said, "Ginny would have gone mad if I had to change before the party. Plus, I think this is her favorite shirt." Harry spun on the spot, sarcastically showing off the striped shirt. "Where're Hugo and Hermione?"

Ron chuckled, "Gin always did have a horrible fashion sense." He added, "I expect they're at the Burrow by now, left a while ago."

"Let me guess," Harry said, grabbing a bottle of firewhiskey from Ron's desk and pouring a glass. "Trying to cheer up Roxanne." Harry walked over to a lavish recliner situated in front of the television and searched for the remote.

Ron, seeing his friend searching, tossed it to him. "As is tradition." Harry caught the remote with a seeker's reflexes and started flipping through the channels. "I still don't really know how that damned thing works, Hermione bought it last year and Hugo loves watching cartoons on it."

Harry found a promising channel that seemed to be showing a football match, and said, "The Dursleys had a television, I never got to watch it much other than the news or whatever my cousin Dudley was watching."

"Well, I don't really care for it much, just seems like a picture that can't hear you." Just then, as one of the players was shown a yellow card for a particularly rough foul, the flames Harry had arrived in turned green and the face of Arthur Weasley, Harry's father in law, appeared in them.

"Harry! Ginny said you'd be here, all right?" Arthur said, rather loudly. Ron, who hadn't been paying attention, was startled and spilled ink across the piece of parchment he was working on.

"Bloody hell, give me a little warning next time, won't you?" Ron said as he magically cleaned the ink from his desk and discarded the parchment. "I suppose paperwork can wait until tomorrow."

"Sorry Ron," Arthur chuckled, "Gin said you would be here so I figured I'd let you know we'll be taking Lily off your hands, along with the rest of the younger children. The Burrow has seemed woefully empty the past couple of weeks with everyone getting ready to go back to school and Molly wanted to liven it up a bit. You can retrieve her next Thursday." Harry wasn't surprised, Molly and Arthur did have a habit of stealing his children away for a week or two at a time. They also had an uncanny ability to do it at exactly when he and Ginny were busiest and needed the help.

"Thanks for the heads up, Arthur," Harry said, smiling. "You should pop over here for a drink before you have too many kids running around."

"I'd love to, but I think Molly would blow a Gasket." He laughed as he spoke, Harry knew it was because he had gotten to use the muggle expression Harry had taught him last Christmas.

"Well, some other time then," Harry said. "Don't let Lily burn down the Burrow." Harry's face fell momentarily at his choice of words, remembering the time Bellatrix and a group of Death Eaters had burned it down all those years ago.

Arthur just laughed, "Please, Harry. The Burrow survived Fred and George, I don't think we have anything to worry about with Lily."

Ron had finally finished cleaning up the mountain of discarded parchment around his desk and fell onto the couch, "So, what do you have planned for our little monsters?" He asked.

"Well, we'll likely take them to Diagon Alley for ice cream, and Lily says she wants to go see Luna and Rolf's new pet shop," Arthur said this last part with a slightly mischievous grin.

"Just don't let her bring home anything too dangerous, please," Harry sighed. He knew all too well that any pet shop of Luna's would likely be stocked with all manner of creatures that most would almost certainly not consider good pets. "I expect all the time with Hagrid has skewed her view of what is and isn't 'safe'." Two small arms suddenly appeared around Arthurs neck in the fireplace and pulled him, laughing, out of site.

When the flames had returned to their normal shade, Harry stood up. "You should probably get ready, Merlin knows Hermione will hex both of us into another dimension if we're late."

"Get ready?" Ron looked up, surprised, "I was just going to wear this."

"Ink and all?" Harry asked.

"I guess you're right," Ron said, getting up and moving toward his room. "Muggle, or Magic?"

"Dunno," Harry said, "I'd assume muggle wear would be appropriate, and we'll likely go somewhere with dancing if the girls have their way, so wear comfortable shoes." As an afterthought, he added, "Ginny told me to press my shirt, if that tells you anything." He moved back to the fireplace, and a flash of green later he was back in his own house.

"That was quick," his wife's voice called from her desk. Harry noticed she was sitting down, a change of pace from when he left and she was practically sprinting back and forth through the kitchen. She looked tired, and Harry knew why. She had scarcely slept through the night all Summer, mostly from being worried about Albus. He looked so much like Harry that the whispers Harry was constantly followed by, seemed to follow Albus too. Ginny noticed this, even though Albus was usually oblivious to it. She worried that when he got to Hogwarts, he wouldn't be able to escape the publicity that came along with being the child of the "chosen one". Harry, admittedly, shared her concern. James had basked in the popularity and thrived during his first years at Hogwarts, Albus was much more shy and would likely hate the spotlight as much as Harry had.

"Ron seemed distracted," Harry said, moving his mind away from the worry he felt for his second child. "I think the joke shop is going to bury him under a stack of paperwork the size of Fluffy." He moved to his wife's side and noticed she was looking at an old piece of parchment he recognized as the Marauder's Map. "Has the sorting started yet?"

"Just about," Ginny replied. He pulled her out of the chair and summoned the loveseat from the upstairs study. They deposited themselves into the seat and watched as the dots of the first years started filing into the Great Hall. Harry found Albus' dot near the back with Rose Weasley's. He and Ginny had only watched two sorting ceremonies with the map, Teddy's and James'.

They watched as, one by one, the dots marched to the front, to a dot labeled _Neville Longbottom,_ and then they moved to their respective house tables. Albus was the first of the children Harry cared to watch and he was seated by Neville for what seemed like an eternity, before practically flying across the room to the Gryffindor table. The relief on Ginny's face was palpable. The first truly unexpected thing happened when Scorpius Malfoy walked between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables… But, instead of taking his seat at Slytherin, he moved to the end of the Hufflepuff table. "Draco is going to lose his shit," Harry laughed, "Hufflepuff," He said in disbelief. By the time Harry had managed to control himself, the time had come for Rose to be sorted, Harry could imagine the words the hat said when placed upon her head. _Another Weasley, I know just what to do with you…_ She expectedly walked to the Gryffindor table and took her place next to Albus.

After the sorting was over, Harry noticed a dot labelled _Draco Malfoy_ leaving the staff table at the front of the room. Ginny apparently noticed this as well, because her voice was icy when she next spoke. "What the hell is that slimy little git doing there?" She asked.

"My guess?" Harry said, "He's the new potions professor, Slughorn is notably absent, I guess he couldn't teach forever." An amused look painted his face.

"You're not surprised or angry at all?" Ginny asked, distressed. "You and Draco hated each other, and now he's going to be teaching our children. It'll be like Snape all over again." She was nearly hysterical at this point.

"I'm obviously not thrilled about it, but Neville is there and I'm sure he's more than a match for Malfoy. Besides, Draco has been a great help to the Auror department since the war." Harry looked at his wife, who was still fuming. "Also, with all the Weasleys and Potters at the school now he'd be mad to single any of them out. Who knows, it'll probably be good for all of them, somehow. And Draco was always more than decent at potions."

"Well I still don't like it," Ginny fumed, "Draco was an absolute nightmare at school, and I'm not sure I believe he's changed from the little git he was back then."

"If he is," Harry said, running his had through her hair, "then it'll give you the chance to bring back your famous bat-bogey hex."

"You're lucky I'm not using it on you for not being as upset as I am, Potter," she said playfully. Then, a bemused expression crossed her face. "Ron doesn't know about this, does he?" And they both laughed, knowing that he would take the news much worse than either of them had.

"I think we should let the kids tell him," Harry said, "That way he can't shoot the messenger."

"You read my mind."


	2. The Dinner Disaster

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Remastered)

Chapter 2: The Dinner Disaster

Harry and Ginny arrived at the restaurant much earlier than the rest of their party, and Harry immediately felt underdressed. The restaurant had only been open for a few months and was said to be one of the best in London, the owner was a wizard, but the establishment catered mostly to muggles. Only half the tables were in use when they arrived, but everyone in the building was very well dressed; Harry had only worn a simple button-down shirt and jeans. Thankfully, they had an entire section reserved for the night far away from all the muggle patrons.

Harry noticed a large family sitting at a table across the room and he could've sworn all the adults were staring at them as they walked in. He brushed this off, as it was not abnormal for people to stare at him, especially when he was with Ginny. The first group from their party arrived twenty minutes later when Teddy, George, and Angelina walked in. Teddy's hair was a bright, neon green color tonight, which stood out against the well-dressed crowd in the restaurant. Harry noted that the family he had seen earlier didn't even glance twice at the green haired teenager, even when he laughed, and a red stripe suddenly ran through the middle of his hair.

The rest of the Weasleys arrived shortly after; Ron and Hermione, Bill and Fleur, and finally Percy and Audrey. They were surprised by the arrival of Luna and Rolf who somehow managed to be the only two in their party that knew how to dress appropriately for the restaurant they had chosen. Luna explained that they had eaten here on opening night, and that they knew the owner from their travels abroad.

Harry ordered 6 bottles of wine for the table, and after about ten minutes Ron had attempted to order everyone a shot of firewhiskey, when the waitress told him they had Fireball Whiskey he replied, "Close enough," too loudly. Thankfully, Harry had put silencing charms around their section, so they didn't disturb any of the other customers. After everyone had attempted to take down the shots (some wildly unsuccessfully), they all ordered their meals.

After close to 45 minutes at the restaurant, everyone was very full and very drunk. George and Teddy had levitated their chairs and were racing them around the table while Hermione and Luna were arguing about all the various creatures Luna sold in her store. Hermione thought the animals would be better suited in the wild, not as pets, while Luna argued in a voice that made it seem she was hardly paying attention, that all the animals in her store had chosen to be there. Hermione thought this entirely unlikely. Harry and Ron were both laughing like madmen over how expensive the check was getting, and Rolf was telling anyone who would listen about his recent adventure to the United States.

Harry decided it was time to go pay the bill before anyone noticed Teddy and George's floating chair race. This whole affair was going to have to move to one of dance halls in magical London before the Weasley clan single-handedly rendered the Statute of secrecy null and void. He stood up and was walking to the counter where their waitress stood when the entire room went dark. All the conversation stopped, and Harry heard two chairs landing softly on the floor. He moved more quietly than before toward where he knew the hostess was standing. Just as he reached the stand, though, an almost blinding burst of red light flew through the door. Harry's reflexes kicked in and he was just about to throw a disarming spell in the direction of the caster, when he realized he obviously wasn't the target. The spell was heading straight for the large family he'd seen when they'd arrived. Harry was in the middle of shouting for them to get down when one of the men at the table that was facing away from the spell, spun on the spot and deflected the spell straight at Harry. Harry dove behind the hostess stand and cast _Lumos maxima_ in the direction the first spell had come from. What he saw next almost made him lose his bearing.

At least a dozen men, all over six feet tall and wearing the exact same black suits, were standing at the door with their wands raised. Harry only had time to register that none of them seemed to have any distinguishing features, in fact they all looked almost exactly alike. Harry watched as the men at the door fired a barrage of spells, some of which he didn't even recognize, at the family in the corner. For their part, the family held their own without much trouble. Even the children were throwing hexes at their attackers. After more than 3 minutes, the first killing curse flew from the group of men at the door.

Seeing the telling green light fly across the room seemed to break all the Weasleys and Harry out of their trance-like state at once. A wall of spells and hexes lit up the room as they joined the fight. More than a few of them found their mark. The men at the door realized, too late, that they were now outnumbered at least two to one, and began to retreat, hurling curses over their shoulders as they ran. When the last one left the building, the lights came back on and Harry surveyed the damage to the restaurant.

At least three of the wait staff laid on the floor, including the woman who had been waiting on their table. Harry checked quickly and found that they were still alive. The only fatality, it appeared, was the hostess, who had been hit by a large piece of glass from the doors. Harry reached down, closed her eyes, and pulled the glass from her throat, magically sealing the wound and cleaning the blood. He turned around and came face to face with his wife, and two of the men from the table, glaring at each other.

"What in the hell was that?" Ron asked, he had apparently made it to Harry's side in the chaos, a comforting realization for Harry. His friend, even though he was piss drunk and likely a bit out of practice since leaving the Aurors, still had his back.

"Y'all took long enough to join in." Said a man from the table in a rough southern accent. Harry guessed he would be from Texas.

"Well we couldn't really tell which of you were the good guys, we only joined in at all because of the killing curse." Ginny retorted, clearly miffed. "A thank you wouldn't hurt, by the way."

"She's right, you know," Hermione said, "But, we'll have time for that later, for now, who are you and why did those men attack you?"

"The name's Tyler, and this is Adam," He said, motioning toward one of his companions. Harry studied Adam and Tyler with curiosity, Tyler was obviously the younger of the two, he seemed almost too young to be speaking for their group. Adam wore the same worried look that Harry knew he often wore himself, he seemed to be more interested in making sure the rest of his party was safe than he was in the conversation.

"And what, Tyler, are you all doing so far from home?" Ginny asked, "and why were those men trying to kill you?"

"Man." Adam said, "singular. Actually, it could be a woman I reckon."

"But there were at least twelve of them here," Ginny said, confused. She glanced at Harry and he could almost see his own expression mirrored on her face.

"Those were golems, they look like men, and as far as we can tell they're almost exactly like you and me, but they don't have any memories, and they obviously don't have any free will. I imagine when those three wake up, they'll be just as blank as can be, won't even remember the fight, not that they could tell you if they did." Tyler said all of this like it was completely obvious. Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead, moving his hair far enough to the side that he revealed his scar. Tyler's eyes lit up "Holy shit, you're Harry Potter," he said, almost in awe.

"The one and only," Harry said, he hadn't realized his reputation went as far as wherever these men were from. "You said those were golems, but somebody has to be controlling them, right? Like with an Imperious curse." The rest of the two groups had gathered around them by now. A woman with long black hair spoke next.

"That's the million-dollar question, we've been trying to figure that out for years," She said, "I'm Claire by the way, Claire Smith, Adam's wife. My husband brought us here thinking we could escape them by leaving the country." She held out her right hand, which Ginny and Harry both shook in turn.

"Listen, I'm sure we're all really glad to meet each other," Ron said, impatient, "but can't we do all the introductions somewhere else? I don't want to be here when all the muggles wake up."

They all agreed, and together they walked out of the restaurant. Each of the Weasleys grabbed a newcomer and apparated to Harry and Ginny's house in Godric's Hollow. Harry took one last look at the scene he was leaving behind, and as an afterthought, grabbed one of the stunned attackers off the floor and spun on the spot, disappearing with a crack.

After an hour with their new guests, Harry had learned that they were all from different parts of the United States. Adam and Claire were from California and had four children, twin boys (Ian and Ryan) both with brown hair and the darkest brown eyes Harry had ever seen, they were almost all black. They also had Susan, who was two years younger than the twins and had short black hair, and finally, Michael who Harry hadn't heard speak yet and seemed to be deathly afraid of everything around him. There was Kayla and Zach Findlay, two of the other adults, and their son Jared. They were from Georgia, Atlanta to be precise. And of course, Tyler Cherry and his daughter Payton from Tennessee.

Harry learned that Tyler and Adam spent nine years serving in the American Magical Armed Forces, where they fought alongside the muggle military forces in order to minimize casualties and fight off any wizards that happened to be working against them without the muggles realizing what was happening. They then spent a year guarding the American Minister of Magic, where they met Zach. He also learned that soon after they took the job guarding the Minister, he went "bat shit crazy" according to Tyler and killed over a dozen muggles in broad daylight. Of course, he was removed from power, but not before he took down over half of his "Secret Service". Only ten of his guards were left standing after the battle, they had all been released by his successor and now only three of them were left. Adam explained that shortly after, the other members of their team started dying in the attacks, nobody ever saw the attackers. Eventually, people started calling whoever was behind it _The Darkness_. He told Harry how the three of the three families had come together to protect each other, and it had all, mostly, worked out fine.

"It all went well, that is, until a month ago when the darkness attacked our safehouse in the middle of the night. Most of us were asleep, Tyler and his wife, Kaitlyn, were awake keeping watch. They woke us up and we fought for almost an hour before there were too many of them. So, we retreated, but right before we could apparate out of there…" Adam paused, looking at Tyler.

Tyler finished for him, "Kaitlyn got hit by a stunner as the rest of us apparated and I splinched myself trying to stop my turn." He showed Harry his shoulder, where the mark of a recently healed gash stood out against his skin.

Adam continued his story, "From there we decided to avoid using magic if we could. We figured that was how they were tracking us. We boarded a cruise ship and came to Europe hoping they wouldn't follow us. I guess we saw how that turned out," he finished.

Harry reflected on his story, "How did it find you so quickly? Especially since you're not using magic," he asked.

"We…" Adam said bowing his head, "Have absolutely no idea." The idea that there was some dark wizard capable of controlling that many inanimate golems, which prior to tonight Harry had only read about in books, had Harry especially worried. The years since Voldemort had been relatively peaceful and Harry had the feeling that this was the end of that.

Harry yawned and looked at his watch, "3 AM? I should get at least a little sleep before tomorrow, and you lot should too. We don't have enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own, but my children aren't here right now so you can split up between their rooms and the guest room."

The Weasleys, other than Ron and Hermione, all left the house. Ron and Hermione followed Harry and Ginny to the bedroom, saying they would use the bedroom fireplace to go home. Once they were all inside, Harry shut the door, "Bloody hell," Ron said, "I thought we were done with all this dark wizard nonsense."

" And now we've gone one that is literally known as _The Darkness_ , how cliché is that?" Ginny offered. She was clearly exhausted, as was Harry. But he noticed a fire in her eyes that he hadn't seen since she stopped playing quidditch professionally. Ginny was fiercely competitive, but she was even more fiercely protective, and Harry could already see she wouldn't ever let this new family, who had suffered so much, out of their protection.

"What should we do Harry?" Hermione asked, noticing the look on Harry's face. He turned to face her.

"I don't know, I'm going to consider their story at work tomorrow, and we'll need to put them up somewhere with a fidelius charm. What about the beach house?" Harry asked.

"I think we should use your old apartment, it's closer and in a muggle area so less magical eyes around," Ginny said. Harry was surprised Ginny suggested it, as she hated that they even kept the apartment. It was, as she explained it, a boy's apartment.

"That could work. I think we should see if the children can go to Hogwarts until this is over. It's the safest place for them I think," Hermione said, "I'll owl Neville and Minerva to see what they can do." Of course, Hermione's first thought would be about putting the children in school.

"You do remember McGonagall isn't the headmistress anymore?" Ron asked, "what could she really do?" Harry noticed Ron seemed to already be on edge, he obviously never thought they would be in this position again. Harry couldn't blame him, though, he doubted anyone would've expected this. He certainly hadn't.

"You think just because she retired, doesn't mean she doesn't have a hand in running it Ronald." Hermione stated. "If I had to guess, I'd say Minerva has more influence than Kingsley on the way Hogwarts is run."

"You're probably right, I'm still a little tipsy from earlier I think," Ron said, laughing awkwardly, still looking about as if the men were going to appear in the room with them at any moment.

"Let's all sleep it off, and figure out what to do tomorrow," Harry said. Ron and Hermione stepped into the fireplace and spun out of sight. Harry looked for Ginny and found her, already sleeping soundly on the bed, still in the same clothes she had worn to the restaurant earlier in the evening. Harry kicked off his tennis shoes, and fell onto the bed next to her, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.


	3. Mad House

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Remastered)

Chapter 3: Mad House

"It's not much," Harry said, gesturing around the sitting room in his old flat. "I've kept it furnished, just in case my family ever needed a place to lay low. After the last war I've been a bit overly cautious, so it's already under the fidelius. I'm the secret keeper, so it's unlikely whoever is hunting you will find you here." Harry had kept the apartment, against Ginny's wishes, partly because he occasionally needed a place to cool off after work, but mostly on the off chance that one of the Death Eaters they hadn't found after the war decided to come out of hiding and attack Harry or his family.

"It's perfect, really." Claire said, "We don't take up a huge amount of space." They watched as all the children ran about the apartment claiming rooms and beds. "Thank you so much, Harry, not many people would take in three whole families out of the blue like this."

Harry chuckled, "It's no problem at all, I've been told I have a slight affinity for playing the hero." His eyes went a bit cloudy as he remembered his school days. "This is really nothing compared to some of my misadventures at Hogwarts."

"Well, in any case, we're lucky you were in that restaurant when they found us," Adam said from across the room.

"I don't know, it seemed like you lot were handling yourselves pretty well," Harry said, Adam looked relaxed and at ease at first glance, but Harry could tell he was still on edge, he probably always was. "I've got to get to work, if you have any trouble or need anything floo the house we came from, Ginny will sort you out." With that, Harry stepped into the fireplace and spun out of existence, leaving the three American families to get accustomed to their new surroundings.

Harry arrived back at his house, greeted by the sounds of half of the Weasley clan apparently arguing about what to do with the still stunned golem from the night before. The first voice belonged to Percy, "We have to bring it to the ministry. Someone there will know what to do."

"And what do we tell them?" George responded, "That we nearly destroyed a restaurant saving a group of Americans from a group of lookalikes in a dark cloud?" He laughed, "That'll make a fine story for the Prophet." George still mistrusted the ministry and hated the Prophet, Harry couldn't say he blamed him on the second count.

Arthur chimed in, "Perhaps we should tell Kingsley and the select few in the ministry that we are completely sure we can trust." Harry was nearly inclined to agree with him, until something dark occurred to him.

"I don't think we should let this one leave the family just yet." Harry said this, apparently startling the group, as he walked into the kitchen. "We can't bring any more people into this…situation, than absolutely necessary. This thing, whatever it is, tracked them across the Atlantic in no time at all, I think telling anyone would only put more people at risk."

"Agreed," Charlie said. _When did Charlie get here? Harry wondered._ "Now, what do we do with… it?" He pointed to the unresponsive golem sitting stark upright on the ground where they'd left it. It made Harry uneasy with the way it seemed like an empty husk, only breathing and staring blankly at them. They had blindfolded it and bound its arms and legs together when they brought it into the house. Harry was unsure if its owner could track it, but the fidelius charm on his house had stood for this long, he didn't expect the _Darkness_ would be able to find the house even if his Golem was inside.

"I've got an idea about that," Hermione said, "we know that whoever is controlling the golems has to be giving them orders somehow, perhaps we can trace the magic back to the Darkness." She said the last word with an air of contempt, the same way she always spoke Voldemort's name when it had to be said.

"Like on those muggle television programs about the police officers," Arthur said, "where they trace the cellular telephones?"

Hermione smirked, "Something like that. I think we need to talk to Luna."

Harry didn't know what Hermione had in mind. He knew, for a fact, that if Luna was going to be involved, it would be interesting at the least. He and Hermione agreed that they would go to the shop after work to speak to Luna, and she promised to fill him in by office mail during the day.

All in all, his workday was thoroughly boring most of the time, being head auror sounded good, but he missed being out in the field. Harry felt trapped behind a desk, covered with mountains of paperwork. Today, while he worked through a particularly large pile of arrest reports, he thought about how the conversation with Luna would go this evening. He didn't want to involve her any more than necessary, as she was very unpredictable. Luna could handle herself in a duel, but Harry thought she had paid quite a high enough price for being friendly with him during the war. He didn't have any interest in putting her through another ordeal like the one in Malfoy Manor. Hermione, however, insisted that Luna was their best chance.

After work, he flooed into the joke shop, and noticed that there were no customers, Ron and George had apparently not opened today. He was greeted by only Hermione, standing near the counter, waiting. She nodded a greeting and together they made their way to Luna's shop. When they walked into the front door they were greeted by the most unusual assortment of creatures. Luna's shop contained a much more exotic variety of pets than the shop that had stood here during Harry's school years. She still carried the normal pets of course, but she also kept miniature dragons (they only grew to around the size of a housecat), large snakes, and she even had a few three-headed dogs, like the one Hagrid owned. These didn't grow nearly to the same size as Fluffy, as they were charmed to only grow to the same size as a Great Dane, and they were apparently very popular with Hogwarts students.

Luna's voice carried from the back of the shop, "I was wondering when you two would arrive… Last night was very exciting, was that battle the end of something? Or the beginning?" Luna walked, or floated, Harry could never really tell, to the front of the store, carrying what looked to be a Hungarian Horntail.

"Somewhere in the middle I'd say," Harry started, staring at the small version of the dragon that had nearly killed him during his fourth year in school. "How are you, Luna?"

"Oh, I'm wonderful," she replied dreamily, "Lily and the others will be here soon, and I just love when there are children in the shop."

Hermione took this moment to get directly to the point. "Luna, do you have any animals that might help us trace a magical signature from one of the golems that attacked last night?"

"Trying to find your way through the darkness?" Luna asked, "I don't have anything in the shop that can help with that, but I'm sure there's something out there. I'll write to Rolf, he's in the Artic circle somewhere looking for a new breed of Cerberus. I'll send an owl today and ask him."

"Thanks Luna," Harry said, "Let me know what you find out." He was just about to say his goodbyes and head home when he heard a familiar voice from the entrance.

"Dad!" came the excited voice of his daughter, Lily. "what are you doing here? Are we getting a new pet?" She was already gone when she asked the questions, running about the store fascinated by all the creatures seemingly at once. She stopped suddenly when she reached a three headed dog, it was pure white. They stared into each other's eyes for quite a while, he was unsure he had ever seen his daughter so still. The other dogs around it were barking, but this one was intently focused, Harry wasn't sure he'd ever seen anything like it.

"Potters always go for the snowy ones," Luna said, and Harry realized he hadn't _seen_ anything like this, but he had experienced it. His first interaction with Hedwig had been similar, thinking about her now was painful, and he longed to protect his daughter from feeling the same pain he had. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Luna spoke again, "You'll need a guard dog soon, Harry." He looked at her and he wasn't sure he'd ever seen Luna so serious in his life.

Lily had pulled the dog from its cage and was sitting on the floor with it in her lap, "Dad look! It's got a lightning bolt like yours!" She held it up, so Harry could see, and sure enough on the pup's stomach ran a black line, shaped almost identically to the one on his own forehead. This broke Harry's resolve.

"It'll need a name," He said to the delight of his daughter, "and you'll be responsible for feeding it, cleaning up its mess, and walking it."

"I'm going to name it Strike, I think," she said, hugging the dog much too tightly, in Harry's estimation. The pup, for it's part, didn't seem to mind. Harry was sure she hadn't heard a word he said after 'name', and felt the need to reiterate.

"It's your responsibility now," he said, and Lily let out an excited squeak.

Harry arrived home to find Albus' owl perched on the kitchen windowsill. Ginny was holding an envelope and small piece of parchment, reading it intently. "He wrote already?" Harry asked, he hadn't expected any owls until at least a week into the year. James hadn't written until the third week last year, and that had only been to tell them he had detention for blowing up one of the toilets. "Everything alright?" He asked, partly about Albus' letter, but also clearly about their new guests.

"He seems to be doing well, it's only been a day though, so he hasn't really had anything to do." Ginny was still looking at the letter, Harry could tell she was deep in thought, "Sounds like he's as excited to be in Gryffindor as we were to see him on the map." She handed the letter to Harry and he read:

 _Mum and Dad,_

 _I got into Gryffindor! I was really nervous before we went in for the sorting, but I just had to put on a talking hat. It told me that Potters were always hard to place, was it talking about you dad? The common room is great! There's a picture of you on the wall, did you know? I never heard James say anything about it. The fat lady thought I was you when I first arrived, and she keeps calling me Harry. James says "hiya", I've got potions tomorrow, there's a new professor over potions too, not Uncle Horace. I think it's that blonde man that you and Uncle Ron were talking about on the platform. His son got put into Hufflepuff by the way, wasn't his dad in Slytherin? Anyway, it's late and I've got to sleep somehow, I'll write again soon. Bye!_

 _Albus_

"So he would've had Malfoy's class today, maybe we should ask how it was," Harry said, "Maybe it won't be so bad."

"I wrote him and James about that as soon as I woke up today," Ginny said, crossing her arms.

"Are you really that worried about it?" Harry asked, "I mean we survived Snape's class, Draco should be easy enough for Albus. As far as James goes, I'd be more worried about Malfoy surviving him than the other way around." Harry laughed, and Ginny smirked back at him. "Speaking of James, I think we should get him a new broom, If he makes the house team, which he will, that old Cleansweep isn't winning us any house cups."

Ginny laughed softly, "What are you thinking? A newer Cleansweep, maybe a Nimbus?" She had clearly forgotten all about Malfoy, "I can probably get him one of the Harpies' brooms from last season if he's willing to fly on a _girls broom"_

"I know it's expensive," Harry said, "but why don't we get him one of those brooms he was drooling over at the world cup? You know, the ones the USA was using. Starsweeper XXI I think it was."

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked, "That'll mean he has a faster broom than your Firebolt, you may have some competition in the family games at Christmas." She thought about it for a second and added, "He'll have to play seeker with a broom like that."

"Exactly," Harry said smugly, it was a running argument whether James would play his position, or chaser, as Ginny had. He was just about to say that he couldn't have his firstborn son playing a lowly position like a chaser, when just as it had last night, the room was filled with a dark cloud. He and Ginny each pulled their wands and stood, back to back, scanning the darkness. They waited for the attack for what seemed like forever, slowly turning in circles careful to not make no noise. But, the attack never came and eventually the darkness subsided.

"How did it find us so quickly?" Harry thought out loud, turning to face Ginny. "I've got to warn them." Harry started toward the fireplace and turned at the last moment, "You should go to the Burrow, I'll set up stronger defenses around the house and let you know when it's safe."

Ginny was having none of it. "I'm staying with you," she said, defiant, "Whatever is after the Americans clearly isn't at all interested in us, besides, this is the most excitement I've seen since I retired." Harry sighed, there was no talking his wife out of anything once she decided.

"Just stay close, Gin," He said, pecking her on the head before stepping into the fireplace and spinning out of sight.

On the other side he appeared with to find ten wands pointed at him from various points in the room. "Whoa, whoa… I come in peace." He said as he stepped out, aware that his wife would be in his place momentarily.

When she arrived, she was quickly out of the fireplace and talking "What's this then?" She asked, incredulous, "That's a great way to thank us for our hospitality, with wands in our faces. We've just come to warn you that your Darkness just came into our home." She spat the last words out like they were going to make her sick.

Adam was the first to reply. "It was in your home, already? It's never found us that quickly before." If it was possible, all the Americans looked much more nervous than they had the night before.

"Yes," Harry said, "It showed up, just like last night it got pitch black, stayed that way for a few minutes, then it lifted."

"So, it didn't attack?" Claire said, breaking what was sure to be an awkward silence as the others contemplated what had happened. "That's never happened before, usually it's only dark for a moment before the spells start flying."

Moments later, the fireplace flared green again and Ron Weasley arrived to twelve wands pointed his direction. Harry relaxed as soon as he saw the red hair, as did Ginny. "Blimey, what a warm welcome. We come in peace." He said, hands up in mock surrender. Hermione followed him out of the fireplace.

"Oh please, wands down people," She said, wiping herself off, she hadn't ever really gotten the hang of using the floo network without getting dirty. "We just had a, um, _Dark_ visitor at our flat."

"You too?" Came a chorus of voices, and Hermione and Ron launched into a very similar story to the one Harry and Ginny had just finished telling.

"…Then, we came here to face the inquisitorial squad pointing their wands at our faces." Ron finished, laughing.

Adam had started pacing during the story, "So they've found both of your homes, how long until they find this place."

"Let me put it this way, I've been holed up here with the entirety of Magical Britain searching for me and haven't heard a peep. The only people that even know it exists are in this room. There may not be a safer place in all of Europe, save Hogwarts." Harry said.

"Hogwarts?" One of the children asked, curiosity clear on his face.

"Yes, it's the school here, much like your Salem Institute," Hermione said.

Ron, thinking she didn't do it justice, cut in, "Except it's in a castle!" This made the curiosity on the children's' faces change to excitement.

"Speaking of Hogwarts," Ginny said, "Have you heard anything from the headmaster?" Hermione looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I have," she replied, "and they've agreed to allow the children to study there, on one condition." She looked at Harry, was that guilt on her face?

"And what would that be?" Harry asked, though he thought he may already know. His suspicions were confirmed when she answered.

"They want you to teach." She said sheepishly, as if she knew how he was going to react. His first inclination was to outright refuse, as he had so many times before, but then he looked at his wife and remembered how worried she had been about Albus having Malfoy as a teacher and his expression softened.

"Don't they already have a Defense professor?" Harry asked, hoping to at least postpone the inevitable.

"They do, but he has agreed to let you take over the younger classes to get your feet wet, so to speak." Hermione said, "You're not actually considering it are you?" She seemed so surprised, and a bit hopeful.

"If it gets the children safely into the school, I'll do it," Harry said finally. "I'll owl the headmaster in the morning."

The American parents took some convincing, but eventually relented and allowed their children to be placed in the care of Hogwarts while they were in Europe. Tyler seemed particularly saddened by the thought of his child leaving for school. Harry thought he understood why and would have probably felt the same way had he lost Ginny the way he heard his wife had been taken. In the end, it was decided that the children would begin school when Harry began teaching, that way they would have an escort to the grounds.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were just about to leave when the fireplace changed colors again, this time to a much darker shade of green than usual. A familiar voice came from the flames, "Harry Potter, It seems you just cannot leave well enough alone. No matter, though, consider this our introduction. You will cease harboring my targets, and I will forgive you for taking one of my Golems. If you do not, I will take everything and everyone from you." Harry was stunned, as the flames returned to their normal colors, when he recovered enough to face his friends, he noticed their expressions were all nearly identical.

"Did you hear him?" Harry asked Ron first.

"Him?" Ron answered, "I heard Mum telling me to send these strangers on their way, 'cept she sounded cold, nothing like Mum at all really. Then she said she'd take away everything and everyone I loved if I let them stay."

"So we all heard different voices, saying basically the same thing," Hermione said, finally restoring her normal calm expression.

When Harry finally turned to Ginny, she was giggling uncontrollably. "Well, at least we know our little stalker hasn't quite done his homework."

"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned.

"Using threats, against Gryffindors?" Ginny said, laughing now. "Our friend is definitely not from around here, that strategy is almost guaranteed to make his job much harder. Gryffindors rarely ever respond well to threats." Harry once again saw that same fire in her eyes that he had on the previous night after the skirmish at dinner, and wondered exactly what she was planning.


	4. Prototype

**A/N: This is the first chapter that really diverges from the story in the original attempt. I hope you're enjoying the book so far, if you are, or aren't, please leave me a note in the reviews.**

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Remastered)

Chapter 4: TBD

Harry and Ron walked along the rows of shops in Diagon Alley, stopping occasionally to peer into windows at some of the more interesting places. Harry carried a large bag, filled to the brim with books. They had come to purchase all the school books for the American Children, and Harry had found that his library was criminally small if he was going to be a professor, so he bought a few books to fill out the shelves of his office. He looked down at the list Hermione had given them, "I think that's everything," He said, glancing from the bag to the list, "besides, Hermione probably has extra copies of anything we missed."

Ron chuckled, "Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she had signed copies," He said, and Harry agreed with the sentiment. "Well, we've got some time to kill. What do you think about the Leaky Cauldron for lunch?"

"I think I've got a better idea." Harry looked from his friend to their favorite shop in the alley, Quality Quidditch Supplies. Mason Lockhart, the squib brother of disgraced author Gilderoy Lockhart, had taken over the shop after the previous owner mysteriously disappeared in the aftermath of the war and was always keen on trying to sell Ron the newest Cleansweep model, currently the Cleansweep Sixteen. Ron agreed, and they were greeted, prior to even reaching the building, by the beaming shop owner opening the door widely for them.

"Afternoon, Harry!" He started before the duo had even reached the threshold of the shop, "I've got just what you're looking for today," He turned to Ron, "and Mr. Weasley, here to look at the Sixteen again? I'm telling you, if I charged you a Galleon every time you came in to just look at it, you'd own the damned thing already." The shop owner joked, but Harry knew there was some truth to the statement.

He didn't wait for a response from either of them before disappearing through a door behind the counter. "What's with him?" Harry asked, Mason almost never left them alone when the store wasn't completely packed. He was always trying to make a sale, and he knew that Harry would let himself be talked in to almost any quidditch related purchase.

Ron shrugged, and walked over to the displayed Firebolt Supreme. Harry followed him, he knew that his Firebolt was still plenty fast, especially for the family games but he couldn't help wanting the newer model. They were still gawking at the display when, carrying two long, rectangular packages, Mason reemerged from the door he had disappeared through. Harry recognized one of them immediately, "It came in already?" He hadn't been expecting James' Christmas present for nearly another week.

"You did order the rush shipping," Mason stated matter-of-factly, "They came in this morning."

"They?" Harry had only been expecting one package. Mason put the second box, quite a bit larger than the first, on the counter between them. It seemed completely unmarked, apart from a small tag that said _Ginny Potter._

"This one is most intriguing," Mason said, "two very large birds dropped this one off this morning, after the regular mail arrived." He eyed the package eagerly, "You wouldn't be willing to open it here? So I could see?"

Harry almost burst out laughing at the thought, "Can't do that, Mason. You try explaining to Ginny why her mail was opened without her permission or presence." He picked up the package and turned back to the shopkeeper before reaching the door, "I'll let you know what's in it, next time I come by, if I'm allowed to see it myself."

This seemed to satisfy the smaller man behind the counter, who turned his attention to Ron. "So, you're going to pull the trigger today?" Harry hadn't noticed, but Ron had carried the box of the Cleansweep to the counter while he was busy inspecting the other two boxes. Ron looked torn, no doubt wondering if he could afford it. Harry knew that Ron and Hermione were doing very well for themselves, but Ron had never really gotten used to the comforts and often Harry wondered if he still felt like the sixth child in a family with one income. He finally hardened his resolve and placed the box on the counter.

After he gave Mason his Gringotts information, he had a thought, Hermione. "Let's not take it out until tomorrow, Mason. Give me time to tell the wife." After the purchase had been made, and goodbyes had been said, the pair made their way to the apparition point and disappeared with two barely audible _Pop_ s.

After failing to find Ginny at their house, Harry and Ron decided to check the Burrow. They arrived to find her sitting on one of the couches near the fireplace, telling a group of enraptured children stories about her days playing for the Harpies. Her eyes lit up when she saw the packages, "It's here!" she seemed almost giddy with excitement. She left the couch, story forgotten, and grabbed the mysterious package from Harry before practically running to the kitchen. Harry and Ron followed, "Lock the door, would you Ron?" Harry thought all the secrecy was a bit much. After putting anti-eavesdropping charms around the room, Ginny nearly tore into the thin wrapping on the box. When she opened it, Harry's jaw dropped, and Ron nearly fainted.

Inside the box, were two of the most beautiful broomsticks Harry had ever seen. They bore the same logo as Harry's Firebolt, but he had never seen the model in front of them now. Ginny picked up a small card attached to the box and read aloud:

 _Dear Potters,_

 _I hope you enjoy the broomsticks, as they aren't yet available to the public, I must suggest that you use them only in private areas. Also, please do remember to send me a letter should you have any issues with them, some of the kinks may not be quite worked out yet. The Firebolt Ultimate is likely to be the only broom used in professional play for many years after its release. Enjoy!_

 _-V.K._

"V.K?" Ron asked, Harry was surprised he could even speak, he still looked a bit like a ghost.

"Must be Viktor Krum," Harry said, remembering that Ginny often used Krum as an unnamed source for her coverage of the Quidditch World Cup. "Why would he send us these?"

Ginny looked at Harry, "Because I've been helping him keep his name mostly out of the papers," she said, "You know, I think he may be the only person who hates being famous more than you do."

"Brilliant," Harry and Ron both said together. Harry added, "Should we try them?" His question came too late, however, as his wife had already taken one of them and disappeared. Harry and Ron knew where she had gone, so they each grabbed a broom and disappeared. They spent nearly three hours flying around the makeshift quidditch pitch near the Burrow, taking turns using the new Cleansweep so everyone would have a chance on the Firebolts. Harry was thoroughly tired when they finally landed in the middle of the clearing. As they started toward the path that let to the Burrow, Harry noticed six figures in black robes moving their direction.

Harry quickly identified them as unspeakables, from the ministry. He always got uncomfortable around the unspeakables, they were one of only two groups Harry had dealt with that always seemed to conceal their faces. He had dealt extensively with the Unspeakables in his time as the head of the Auror department, and even more often as the head of the DMLE, but in all that time he had never seen so many of them in one place. It was unnerving. Harry kept his hand resting on his wand and was encouraged to see that Ginny and Ron both did the same.

"Mr. Potter," The one in the front said, not one for pleasantries the unspeakables, "Your presence is required at the ministry of magic." The unspeakables voice was so generic Harry could not tell anything about the person behind the hood from it. Harry couldn't think of any reason for the unspeakables to be collecting him, much less six of them together.

"I am flattered that you've all come to collect me," Harry started, trying to conceal his worry, "but, I'm afraid I no longer work for the Ministry of Magic. I'd be happy to point you in the right direction if you're looking for the head of the DMLE." His had still hadn't left his wand.

"We are aware of your change of station," One of the other unspeakables said, in much the same voice. "Now, if you will come with us."

" _IF_ ," Harry said, "You say that like you're giving me a choice. Can you at least tell me what this is about, and why you couldn't just summon me with an owl like anyone else?"

"You were on the scene of an attack in Muggle London, an attack that left one Muggle fatally wounded," The first unspeakable said, "We've recovered two of the golems from the scene, we are searching for the third. We also wish to speak with the assumed targets of the attack."

"Well the first answer is an easy one," Harry said, "I haven't the slightest idea where the third golem is. It was at my house, but we were visited by the same darkness that attacked the restaurant and when it lifted the golem was gone." Harry eyed the hooded figures, "The second, however, is much more complicated. You won't be speaking with the 'assumed targets' because they are under my protection. You'll understand, even though I've worked there, and the minister is my close friend, I still harbor quite a bit of mistrust for certain parts of the ministry." Harry saw a figure moving toward them down the path, Hermione. "Speaking of close friends," Harry said, motioning toward the clearly very angry witch.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Hermione's voice carried ahead of her. At that moment, Harry saw that a couple of the unspeakables flinched. Finally, a reaction. "I believe your assignment was to study the unconscious golems with the purpose of finding a way to trace the magic back to their master. I know for certain you weren't tasked with intimidating, or attempting to anyway, Harry Potter!" She finally reached the group, and finished, "We'll speak about this in the morning at length, for now you will return to the ministry and change out of those ridiculous robes!" With a small bow, the six of them disappeared without making a single sound.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't think they'd come bother you, they rarely even leave the department of mysteries." Hermione said, sounding quite upset. "I guess it's a good sign though, means that they're invested in the case." Harry knew from his experiences at the ministry that this was a rare occurrence. Most cases the unspeakables got called to barely even piqued their interest.

"How did you even know they were here?" Harry asked, her arrival was just too convenient to be a coincidence.

"Please, Harry," She replied, "I'm the Minister of Magic, I have my sources." She said this all with an air of faux conceitedness, before adding, "it doesn't hurt that Ginny and I still carry the DA coins, she called me as soon as they showed up. Never mind that though, we have a bigger problem." Harry sighed, it was always something.

"What's that?" Ginny asked, before he ask it himself.

"Someone put a few of the Ministry employees under the Imperius." Hermione said, this wasn't quite news to Harry. The amount of people affected by the Imperius curse was astounding and was only getting higher. "They were caught and released from the curse, of course, but not before they destroyed what they thought were the two golems at the ministry offices." When no one interrupted to ask questions, she continued, "What they actually destroyed were two large watermelons that had been transfigured to look like the golems."

"What does that mean for us, then?" Ginny asked.

"It means whoever is after our new friends is in Britain, physically. Unless those damned golems can cast and maintain an Imperius curse for him." Harry said, it was really the first real indication they had gotten on where the villain was, and that had to be a move in the right direction, right?


	5. Your Move, Potter

_Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness_

 _Chapter 5: Your Move, Potter._

Harry awoke with the oddest sensation, it was completely dark in his and Ginny's bedroom, the only light usually came from the alarm clock on the bedside table. It took him a moment to realize that the clocks light was nowhere to be seen. He wondered silently if the power had gone out but got his answer when he grabbed the clock and pulled it toward him, accidentally pressing the play button and startling himself with the sound of a louder than necessary muggle rock song. He dropped the clock, realizing that if the power wasn't out, and it was this dark it had to be their newfound enemy. He found his glasses by feeling around on the bedside table, but realized they were useless after putting them on. He looked for his wand, but it was not on the table. Panicking, Harry reached for Ginny, but she was missing also. He stood and made his way to the closet beside his bed by memory.

Upon reaching the closet he felt for the magically locked box at the bottom that was sealed to anyone but himself and opened it to retrieve the elder wand. He hadn't removed this particular wand in many years. Originally his plan had been to place the wand back in the tomb alongside Dumbledore, but on the urging of Professor McGonagall he had kept possession of it. She thought it would have been much to dangerous to leave a wand so sought after on the school grounds, especially after the war had depleted the school's defenses. In time, Harry had agreed, instead placing the wand into the box he now held, along with his invisibility cloak and various other precious items. He grabbed the wand, and as an afterthought, the cloak, and cast a silent _Lumos_. The spell, empowered by the wand, was nearly as bright as his _Lumos Maxima_ had been the night of the first attack and it illuminated most of the room.

He moved, silently, through his house, the first room he came to was Lily's. He opened the door and found her sleeping soundly, her dog, Strike, lay beside her, completely alert. Harry saw that the dog was glowing slightly but thought it must just be a trick of the light. He left the room, silently locking the door behind him.

He moved on, downstairs to the kitchen, and what he found nearly made him gasp aloud. Ginny was seated at her desk, wands in both hands. Harry thought one of them must have been his. Worse, there was a figure standing directly behind her. _No, not standing,_ Harry thought, _floating._ He raised the elder wand at the figure and cast a stunner.

The red light traveled much faster from the elder wand than it would have on its own and Harry was sure that the attacker would have no time to react. He didn't, however, count on Ginny. She moved, faster than if she was on a broom, and blocked the stunner almost with no effort at all, though she used both wands to do it. She then raised both wands and cast two silent curses, one the tell-tale green of the killing curse and the other a black spell that was immensely hard to see with the haze that seemed to be penetrating his _Lumos_. He ducked below both spells and his instincts kicked in. Years of Auror training and the battles from his youth filled his head as he battled his wife in their kitchen. He dodged a particularly close killing curse, and fired a stunner at his wife, willing it to travel at a slower speed than usual. This wasn't a strategy that would have worked with his own wand, but the elder wand seemed to know exactly what its owner's intent was. The spell travelled just slowly enough that he could cast a second at the unknown attacker. The spell illuminated the attackers face enough for Harry to nearly lose whatever bearing he still had.

The figure controlling his wife looked almost like a dementor, apart from one feature it had a clearly human face. Ginny jumped in front of the stunner meant for her captor and blocked it with her body, sending her sprawling across the room. Harry thought this a great victory for a moment and decided to cast a _Lumos Maxima_ to get a better look at the attacker. What he saw next would haunt him forever.

The figures face, it's only human quality, was an exact copy of Harry's own face, apart from the expressions. The face he saw staring back at him clearly held nothing but malice in its eyes, and it was smiling manically. They locked eyes for a moment, before the thing flew toward the stairs, it took Harry longer than he would have liked to think, _LILY!_ He charged up the stairs to find the figure floating at the foot of his daughter's bed, it had blown the door entirely off its hinges. He aimed his wand at the thing, but before he could cast, a white streak leaped from the bed and grabbed it around what would be a human's neck. The attacker flew back into the wall and threw off the small dog. Strike landed on the ground, growling, and charged again. This time, however, the attacker was expecting him and swatted the pup away. It landed at Harry's feet, and stood. Harry wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen next, but what ended up happening was surely not it. Strike stood, growled softly, and then loosed the loudest bark Harry had ever heard, it was accompanied by a flash of pure white light, almost like a patronus.

Harry watched as the light pushed the attacker back and pinned it against the wall. The face looked at Harry for a second, still grinning like a madman, and then disappeared with a _Pop._ Lily, who had woken up during the commotion, seemed to be in shock, until Strike jumped into the bed and began licking her face like any normal dog would. Almost as if woken from a dream, Lily began laughing and Harry was so relieved he nearly fainted. He stumbled back, stress from the situation almost too much, before he remembered, _Ginny!_

He sprinted downstairs to find his wife sitting up, leaned against the remnants of her desk. "What happened?" She asked, "What am I doing on the floor, with your wand?" She attempted to stand, but fell again, Harry picked her up from the floor and carried her to the mostly intact couch. "What the hell, what happened here?" She said, apparently noticing the state of the entire first floor for the first time.

"Well," Harry said, concerned, "You did." He noticed that Ginny, in this moment, looked more like the scared first year girl that he'd saved from the chamber of secrets than she ever had in the time since. Just when she looked like she was going to speak again, the fireplace flared green and a parade of Weasleys appeared one by one, wands drawn. When they realized the fight had ended, their demeanors changed from focused to worried and they moved to where Ginny and Harry sat.

"What in the name of Merlin happened here?" Arthur was the first to speak, he motioned to the destroyed living room and kitchen. Harry waited until people stopped arriving through his fireplace and launched into the story, leaving out the part where the attacker wore his face. He noted the looks of disbelief when he reached the part about Lily's dog casting, no barking, a patronus. When he finished the story, Ron was the first to speak.

"Bloody hell, what was that thing?" He asked, and Harry shook his head. He would tell Ron, Ginny, and Hermione about the face after the rest of the Weasley clan had gone home. Just then, Strike and Lily came bounding down the stairs together. Lily ran to Molly's side and Strike, surprisingly, ran directly to Ginny, and jumped into her lap. Instantly, color returned to his wife's cheeks and she stopped shaking. "Well I guess you're lucky this little guy was watching out." Ron finished, reaching in and patting the pup on the head, "What's his name again?"

"Strike," Harry said, "Lily says he looks like a lightning bolt when he runs." He chuckled in disbelief, remembering how the pup had flown when he entered the room.

"Well," Arthur chimed in, "in any case, the houses need more protection until this threat, whatever it is, is dealt with." Murmurs of agreement came from everyone in the house, and they decided to reinforce the wards and place new Fidelius charms on all the houses in Britain. In the end, Harry was designated secret keeper for Ron's flat, the Burrow, and Teddy's new place, which was much more of a shed that was magically extended than anything else. It was nice on the inside though.

Only Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione remained when Ginny finally spoke, "I could've killed you," her hands had started shaking and she was again on the verge of tears. Harry moved back to her side and smiled as encouragingly at her as he could manage. He was sure he looked like a madman.

"It's okay, Gin," He said as he kissed her on the forehead, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not an easy man to kill." Ginny put her face into Harry's shoulder and laughed between sobs as he rocked her back and forth. Ron and Hermione, who had been respectfully quiet during their exchange, spoke up a moment later.

"What were you leaving out earlier," Hermione asked, looking at Harry with her most questioning look. _How does she always know?_

"You could tell?" Harry asked, surprised.

"C'mon mate," Ron said, "We've been around each other nearly nonstop since we were eleven, we know when you're not telling us something. Now, spill."

"Alright, alright," Harry said, he had been planning to wait until the next day to tell them, but supposed that plan was dead now. "The attacker, I said he looked like a dementor, and that was true, just not entirely." Harry looked at his friends, who looked slightly confused, but eager to hear the rest. "It had a human face," a gasp escaped from Hermione, "It had _my_ face." At this point everyone went deathly silent.

After a silence that seemed to last an entire lifetime, Hermione spoke, "What does that mean?" she asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me, I've never seen or heard of anything like it before," Harry replied. "You haven't read about anything that could have caused it?"

"I think it most certainly wasn't a dementor," Hermione said, "We pushed all of them out of Britain after the war." Harry knew this was true, there hadn't been a dementor sighting in nearly seven years. "Could it have been a mixed breed?" The thought of a dementor breeding with anything made Harry's stomach turn.

Harry noticed that his wife seemed on the verge of passing out, and decided the conversation needed to come to a close. "I don't want to think about any of this tonight," Harry said, "We should all get some rest and think on it tomorrow, after all I'm starting a new job in the morning."

"Agreed," Hermione said, reaching into her pockets and pulling out familiar coins. "I made new coins for everyone, since I'm sure that most of you lost yours ages ago. I trust you both still remember how these work?" She directed the final sentence at Harry and Ron. They nodded, and Harry watched as his two friends left through the fireplace.

He turned to his wife and realized she had fallen asleep on the couch already. He picked her up as gently as he could and carried her up the stairs. He reached the top just in time to see an extendable ear retracting into his daughter's room. After placing Ginny carefully into their bed, he went to see his overly curious daughter. She was pretending to be asleep when he entered her room, but Harry knew better. "Eavesdropping?" He asked, smiling as she looked up at him guiltily, "I thought I taught you better than that. You must have so many questions."

Lily, scarcely able to wait, asked, "Why'd that thing smile at you? You were fighting it."

Harry sighed, "Most evil creatures that I've encountered smile at the strangest times," he began, "It's, I think, because they enjoy pain. Whether their causing it, or it's being caused to them." Harry paused for a second, remembering Bellatrix laughing after she killed Sirius, and remembering her sick smile when she was fighting Molly at the Battle of Hogwarts. He decided to tell Lily the story, leaving out some of the more gruesome parts. "So you see, Bellatrix was too busy enjoying the fight, and all the pain that came with it, to notice that she had lost. That's why the good will always win, because we fight because it's right, not because we enjoy it. We fight because we must, not because we want to. Most importantly, though, we fight to protect each other, not to cause anyone else pain."

Lily's eyes were wide, but she seemed to understand, "So, we'll win?" She asked, Harry looked into his daughter's eyes and nodded.

"In the end, I have no doubt we will," Harry said, and noticed his daughter's expression go from that of a wide-eyed little girl, to that of determination. He had seen that look before, in the mirror, and in all of those that had fought beside him during the war. He hoped another war was not on the horizon, though he couldn't help feeling, maybe it had already started. "Goodnight, Lily," He said, kissing her on the forehead and pulling her blanket up to her chin.

"'Night, Dad" She said, rolling over to face away from the door.

Harry returned to his room, surprised to find Ginny wide awake. "How did she take it?" She asked, clearly concerned.

"Almost exactly like you would have," Harry said, "She looked more pissed off than scared at the end." He noticed that Ginny's expression didn't change, she was still much too worried, "I wouldn't be too worried, Gin, that dog of hers is pretty protective."

As Harry laid down beside her Ginny gave him a serious look, "Harry, can you teach me Occlumency?" Harry had already decided to do this, as it seemed his wife was once again the target of a dark wizard's mind tricks.

"It won't be easy or fun," Harry said, remembering Snape's lessons and the hours in the dungeons having the potions master forcing himself into his thoughts and memories.

"I know, but at least you already know everything about me, so it won't be so bad if you see my memories." Ginny said, smiling sleepily.

"We'll start this weekend, then." Harry said, "Be careful until then, though, okay?" She nodded and he leaned over and kissed her goodnight, before burying his head in his pillow and falling into a fitful sleep. Tomorrow he would start his job, teaching at Hogwarts, and everything would change.

Somewhere outside the boundaries of the Potters' land, a small muggle boy stood, wondering what had happened to the beautiful house that had been standing where the abandoned lot now was. Just as he was thinking he had gone crazy, a voice startled him out of his thoughts, "Wicked, isn't it?" The voice said, "How it just disappears when they do that." The voice was cold and creepy.

"Who's there?" The boy asked, turning to look for the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from the shadows of a house behind him. He wasn't about to walk toward it, as a matter of fact, the thought he'd just turn and run home. But, he found his legs wouldn't listen to him and he remained rooted to the spot.

"Oh, that doesn't matter," the voice said, "I'm more interested in you, what's your name, child?"

The boy didn't want to answer, but still his voice came, "Stephen, my name is Stephen."

"Well hello, Stephen," The voice continued, "It's nice to meet you." Stephen fought unsuccessfully against the invisible bonds that seemed to keep him in place. "I need you to deliver a message to the people that live in the house that was just there." The shadow itself seemed to point to where the house had just been.

"How?" Stephen asked, sure he was losing his mind, "I don't even know who lived there."

"Oh, that doesn't matter in the slightest," The voice said amicably, a man dressed in a suit and tie with his face hidden stepped out of the shadows and raised what looked like a carved stick at Stephen. He didn't even have time to scream before a green light from the stick hit him squarely in the chest and everything went black. "Your move, Potter."


	6. Headmasters and House Heads

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Remastered)

Chapter 6: Headmasters and Heads of Houses

As Harry Potter approached the gates of Hogwarts, he found himself more nervous than he could remember being in his entire adult life. Like his first year at Hogwarts, he arrived alongside a group of children, all of them in awe of the castle before them. As they entered the gates, Harry stopped beside the memorial that was placed on the grounds after the war and placed a small bouquet of flowers at its base. One of these flowers, as it turned out, was a fake wand that was charmed to turn into a flower when one tried to cast with it. It was a kind of tradition for him to leave one of these each time he visited the school, in honor of Fred. _I'll need to use the floo from now on,_ Harry realized, if he left one of these each day, he'd be spending all of his profits from owning part of the joke shop on toys from the shop itself.

He led the children up the stairs and stopped in front of the gargoyle that stood guard over the Headmistress' office. "Well, this is awkward," He said, chuckling, "I don't know the password." In his school years, Harry had often enough found himself in the headmaster's office that he had known most of the passwords the old man would use. The new headmistress, Rebecca Undercliffe, was a mystery to him, so he would likely never guess her password. Just as he was going to leave and attempt to find Neville, or any other professor, an unlikely savior appeared.

"Hello, Potter," The drawling voice of his childhood enemy carried down the hallway. Draco Malfoy had grown into a moderately respected, supposedly decent, man by all accounts. He did, however, still carry an air of arrogance along with him, and Harry was slightly reminded of the child he had feuded with for all those years. Harry, having put his hatred for Malfoy behind him, greeted the blonde man with a smile.

"Malfoy," Harry said with a nod, "I don't suppose you know the password, these late arrivals need sorting." He motioned to the children behind them, most of which were fascinated by everything in the castle, and not paying any attention at all to the conversation the adults were having.

"Ah, so these are our new American students," Draco said, looking them over. "I'm Professor Malfoy, your potions master." He looked back to Harry, "The password is _Gillyweed,"_ he said, and at the last word, the gargoyle sprung to life and moved out of the way, revealing the same spiral staircase Harry had traversed many times.

They left Draco at the bottom of the stairs, and Harry led the children up the familiar staircase. The stairs, however, were where the similarities between the headmistress' and Dumbledore's offices ended. Where the office had always seemed a bit cluttered under Albus, if not a bit messy, it was now immaculate, and Harry could see that everything clearly had a place. He did notice one odd similarity, the perch that Fawkes had perched upon was still in the same place, woefully empty. A high pitched, almost chirpy, voice came from the study, "Professor Potter, you're early," Professor Undercliffe stated as she leapt down the small stairway, skipping all of the stairs, choosing to cushion her landing rather than waste time walking the stairs. The headmistress was a shorter woman, but you would hardly know it from the way she carried herself. She gave off an aura of power that seemed almost visible. Harry noticed a large puma cat followed her down the stairs, curling up at the bottom of the stairs, but keeping both eyes open and on the new visitors. "These must be our new students!" She exclaimed, looking the children over, "I am Professor Undercliffe, well, Headmistress Undercliffe now I suppose. Let's jump right in and get you all sorted into your houses. I trust Harry has explained how the Hogwarts houses work?"

The children, still seemingly in shock, were silent. So, Harry answered, "Hermione has." The headmistress looked at the faces of the children, all of which were still staring nervously at the large, reddish cat that was now standing directly beside Undercliffe.

"Ah, you have nothing to fear from Athena," the Headmistress said, "or, her siblings, Artemis and Apollo." At the sounds of their names, two more large pumas came bounding down the stairs to join the first. Artemis was a much darker shade, almost black with a red tint to her fur. Apollo was much more brightly colored, compared to his sisters. The cats came forward slowly and allowed the children to pat and scratch their heads, this put the children much more at ease and the conversation moved back to the sorting. Professor Undercliffe, after a moment, walked into a small doorway and returned moments later with the familiar sorting hat. "Now, shall we begin?"

As the children were sorted, Harry pulled the headmaster to the side and said, "I was wondering if I could speak to the portraits." She gave him a questioning glance, his face must have told her everything she needed to know, because she nodded and motioned for him to go ahead. He thanked her and walked up toward the study, shutting the door behind him.

There was quite the commotion when he entered the office, all the portraits seemingly began talking at once, and Harry was unsure what to make of all of it. He nearly had to shout to be heard, but when he spoke, the portraits seemed to quiet down a bit to hear him. He looked to Albus, who seemed much more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him during his time at the school, and smiled. "Hello, Headmaster," Harry said, realizing too late that everyone in the room would answer to that title. He waited until the entire room had responded with their greetings and began his story. He told the headmasters everything that had happened since the night at the restaurant, and they stayed respectfully quiet until he finished. Dumbledore was the first to speak upon his completion.

"Where, if I might ask," He started, a twinkle in his eye, "did Lily come to find this new pet?" Harry explained the encounter at Luna's pet shop, having left it out during his initial story. "I believe, Harry, that you may have come to the wrong place entirely," The old man said, "Luna, as usual, may know much more than she appears to."

Harry didn't disagree, Luna had always tended to know much more than people, including Harry, had given her credit for. She had, after all, been the first one to suggest that he find the lost diadem, and had led him in the right direction in his search for it. He determined that he would be making another trip to the pet shop soon.

For the present, though, he still had questions that needed answering. "Do you have any ideas about the thing that attacked my home?" He asked, desperation clear in his voice, "Why would it have my face?"

"That was likely a ploy to distract you or make you second guess yourself, Potter," Snape said, his voice still sounded as cold as it always had. "It nearly worked, too. In the time that you were, no doubt, distracted by that little trick... the attacker made it all the way to your daughter's room without any interference. If that pup hadn't held off and expelled the attacker, his ploy would have succeeded." Harry knew he was right, but it still made him angry to hear his former potions master speaking to him with that same contempt as he had during his time in school.

Albus spoke next, in a voice that reminded Harry of the first night he had been told about the Horcruxes. "I believe, whatever this creature is, it must have been spawned by the same magic that creates the Dementors. This would explain why the pup, Strike I believe you called it, created something that resembled a patronus to expel it. If it is what I think, it would have to feed on negative emotions."

Harry finally spoke again, "Why would it use Ginny, then?" he asked. He couldn't even start to understand his own situation as well as the expression on Albus face conveyed that the old man understood. He only knew that he needed to understand why it attached to Ginny, so he could protect her.

"It's obvious, isn't it Potter?" Snape said, ever present scowl turning a bit softer, "Losing control is Ginevra's greatest fear, and who could blame the girl, after her experiences in this very school?"

Albus nodded and spoke, in a voice that barely even resembled his usual cheery vocals. "One of my more spectacular failures, I'm afraid." Harry noticed the sadness in his voice, and it made him uncomfortable, "A student, a first year at that, was opening the chamber of secrets right under my nose. I never even thought to suspect a Gryffindor, it had to be a Slytherin in my eyes. Of course, now we know the heir was never physically at the school… But I digress," the headmaster's eyes were distant.

Snape spoke, grabbing Harry's attention, and the attention of Dumbledore, "How is the girl, since the attack?"

"As well as can be expected," Harry said, before adding, as an afterthought, "She's asked me to teach her how to use Occlumency." Snape must have found this statement terribly funny, because he began laughing like a madman soon after.

"You? Teach? Occlumency? Young Ginevra will struggle to keep a first year out of her mind with your instruction, I suggest you send her here, or at least use my second portrait to help you with the instruction." Snape said, still laughing rather smugly. He motioned to a second frame with the same black backdrop as his, but with no current resident. "I can move freely between these two frames. If you put me in whichever room you plan to do the _lessons_ in, I will be able to help you instruct her. I assume you have become a capable Legilimens. You did have more of a proficiency for that than occlumency if I recall correctly."

After several more minutes discussing Ginny's instruction, Harry agreed to bring the other frame for Snape to his office, where he and Ginny had agreed to do the lessons. She's going to love this, Harry thought, imagining the shocked look on his wife's face when she heard Snape during their first lesson made him chuckle, but the impending hex that was sure to follow that look concerned him.

Harry departed the study, after promising to keep the former headmasters informed of any new developments. He was greeted, upon his return, by a group of very excited children. He found out quickly that the twins and Susan had been placed in Gryffindor, Payton had been sorted into Hufflepuff, and Jared, the shortest of the children despite being two years older than Susan, had been placed in Ravenclaw. He was surprised to find Michael still under the hat, Harry knew how difficult placing certain children could be and was just about to sit down to wait when the hat shouted, "Slytherin!" Harry wasn't terribly surprised that the children had all been placed in different houses, they hadn't been exposed to any of the biases by being raised in magical Britain, and as such their families had no house loyalties already in mind.

After giving the children a few minutes to chat excitedly about what to expect next, he spoke "Alright, then. Let's get you all to your common rooms to meet your housemates," Harry saw the excitement in their eyes increase, he was surprised that was even possible. "We'll start with the Hufflepuffs, follow me."

About halfway to the Hufflepuff common room, they ran into Draco again, "Any Slytherins?" the blonde man asked, curious. When Harry nodded, Draco's eyes moved directly to Michael. "I'll take this one, then. Wouldn't want you getting lost in the dungeons, Potter." Was that a joke, Harry wasn't entirely sure, he chuckled anyway and allowed Draco to lead Michael away in the opposite direction.

They reached the Hufflepuff common room, and Harry instructed Payton to knock. She did, and instantly disappeared. Harry was impressed, during his time at the school the Hufflepuff common room had been completely unguarded, apart from the statues on either side of the door that only sprang into life on very rare, dangerous occasions. They ran into Peeves on their way to Ravenclaw tower, but the poltergeist was too busy chasing what looked like a third year with a large bucket of what Harry hoped was water. "That's Peeves, you'll want to avoid him if you're ever running late for class." Harry's advice seemed to hit home, as the four remaining children nodded in his direction. When they reached the Ravenclaw tower, Harry offered to help Jared with the riddle. His offer was rejected, however, by the determined child.

He led his final three charges on the nostalgic journey to Gryffindor tower, where the painting of the fat lady greeted him, smiling widely. "Harry? Harry Potter?" She seemed overly excited to see him, "How good it is to see you again, how long has it been?" Before Harry could answer she started talking again, "Here to visit young Albus? Or to scold James?"

"Neither, actually. Just dropping off three new young Gryffindors." Harry said, earning a confused expression from the portrait.

"New students?" She asked, "This late in the term?"

"Unusual circumstances," Harry said, "I seem to have been too hasty in bringing them to you, though, and I've forgotten to ask anyone what the password is. You wouldn't be willing to let them in just this once?"

She looked at Harry with an expression of admonishment, "I'm sorry, Harry dear, but security at the school has been a top priority ever since, well… you." Harry understood, and was about to call James with a patronus when Neville appeared in the corridor, carrying a potted plant that was shaped very much like a little green person.

"All right, Harry?" Neville said after recovering from the shock of almost trampling young Susan, who had been blocked from his sight by the plant in his hand.

Before Harry could respond, Ian asked, "What's that?" He pointed to the plant in Neville's arms, which was, admittedly, foreign to Harry also.

"Well, that's my current mystery," Neville said, focus returning to the plant, "Just appeared in the greenhouses this morning. It doesn't move, whatever it is," He poked it with his wand, proving his point. "I'm bringing it to my office, to decide whether or not to send it off to an expert."

"Shouldn't you be the expert by now?" Harry asked, laughing. Neville was easily the authority on plants in magical Britain as far as the ministry was concerned, so Harry couldn't imagine who he would think highly enough of to send any plant related mystery off to.

"I suppose you're right," Neville said, "Now, what're all of you doing outside the common room? Not socializing with the paintings, I assume?" He pointed to the fat lady, who was now juggling three pieces of fruit, much to the delight of Susan.

"Actually, we were just realizing we didn't have the password, these are the three new Gryffindors." Harry said, and saw Neville's eyes light up.

"Well that's exciting!" Neville said, "I'm Professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor house, and you are?" The children each introduced themselves, Neville looked a bit worried when he found that the twins were, indeed, twins. No doubt thoughts of Fred and George's antics had something to do with that reaction. After the introductions, he gave them the password, it was "Prince of Persia," which bought him some strange glances from the children and Harry. He shrugged, explaining, "It's a muggle video game, I get bored over the holidays."

Neville left them there and Harry ushered the three children through the passageway, taking a quick peek inside before deciding to not take the spotlight from them by walking in for a better look. It would be a better shock for the Weasleys and his sons if they saw him for the first time when he took over their defense classes.

He arrived in the office he had been assigned, unsurprised to find it fully prepared with the books and equipment he had brought already all in place. As he sat in his large desk chair, deciding to work on his first day's lesson plan, he was startled by a horse patronus that he immediately identified as Ginny's. "Get home now, something's happened." His wife's voice came from the shimmering horse before it disappeared. Harry was in the air, flying toward the edge of the grounds to disapparate before the last wisp of the white horse had faded.


	7. First Class

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness

Chapter 7: First Class

Harry surveyed the scene in his living room, surprised at the sheer number of people. Every single member of the Weasley clan seemed to be here, along with various other trusted friends. Even Kinglsley, who by all accounts was enjoying retirement, had come for whatever this was. The conversation, which seemed to be out of control anyway, stopped abruptly as people realized he had arrived. "Took you long enough, mate," Ron broke the awkward silence, "It's a mad house here."

"I can see that, and it's nice to see all of you," Harry said, still more than a bit confused, "but I have to ask, what's going on?" The people parted, and Ron said something about seeing for himself. Nothing could prepare him, however, for what he saw on the table in his kitchen.

Ginny spoke up, "We may have a bigger problem than we originally thought," she said, motioning to the clearly deceased boy, Harry knew immediately that a killing curse was to blame. "Last night, when we had our run-in with that… thing, I may have done more than just trying to kill you."

"No." Harry whispered, it couldn't be, "Are we sure you did this?"

"Well, I can't remember anything about the incident, so we can't be sure," Ginny said quietly, "but, it seems likely."

"Wouldn't you know?" Harry asked, "I mean, you would feel different, right?" Ginny opened her mouth to answer, but before she could get a word out the child on the table sat directly upright. He was clearly still dead, but just animated. He turned his head, too stiffly, to face Harry directly, his eyes were completely black, it was unsettling.

"Good evening, Potter." A voice, much too old to be the voice of the child before them, spoke up. "You'll excuse my unusual form of communication, I'm sure. I always do seem to lose my temper a bit when I'm thwarted by wizards of lesser skill." The child's mouth moved robotically as the words came, "Of course, poor Joseph here paid the price," was that amusement in the voice? Harry thought so, even though the voice had been completely devoid of emotion thus far. "I'm here, once again, to offer you a way out. I care very little for the great _Harry Potter_ , your life means little to me. I'm only interested in the men you protect."

"And what," Harry said, cutting off whatever the voice would say next, "You think killing a defenseless child is going to make me suddenly listen to you?"

"Of course not," the response came, "I'm only giving you this opportunity because I want you to know that whatever happens to any of the people in this room, from this point onward, is because of the decision you made in this moment." The child's face smiled, "I'm going to thoroughly enjoy Britain, I think." The voice, seemingly finished with its conversation, came forth once more, "See you around, Harry." The body, almost as if a puppet held by strings that had been cut suddenly, fell. It then disintegrated, and all that remained a moment later was a small mound of dust.

After all of the chaos had ended, and everyone had finally quieted down, Harry turned to Hermione, "What happens next?"

"Well, that's really up to you," Hermione said, still looking sadly at the pile of dust on the table, "If you want to open up a formal investigation, we will bring the, um, remains to the department of mysteries. If you wish to keep this entire situation under wraps, then that's where having friends in high places comes in handy." Harry pondered this, then turned to Ginny.

"It's up to you, Gin." He said, "You're the one that will bear the brunt of the questioning, after all."

Ginny looked a bit startled at hearing her name. "Oh, um… I'd rather keep this one quiet and go back to normal, as much as possible anyway."

Harry agreed silently, and Hermione agreed not to have the ministry investigate. "We'll have to figure this one out on our own."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, mate," Ron said, before adding darkly, "It almost feels like Voldemort all over again."

"Worse, really." Harry said, earning shocked glances from everyone in the room, "At least we knew basically what Tom wanted, we have almost no idea what this new _Darkness_ wants, or what it's capable of."

A few hours of strategizing later, the Weasley family and friends started slowly trickling out of Harry's home. After most of them had departed, Harry said, "We'll need to get a bigger fireplace, I think." Ginny laughed quietly, relieved that the house was, once again, empty.

"Why does everything always happen to us?" Ginny asked, exacerbated.

"I don't know, Gin." Harry said, "At least it's never boring though." He was, of course, just trying to comfort his wife, a quiet, boring life sounded incredible to Harry. He thought, as he lay awake, of the child's family. They would never know that their son had been killed, and they certainly wouldn't ever know that his corpse had been used as a puppet for an evil maniac. They also, he realized, wouldn't ever receive any semblance of closure. He resolved to do everything he could to make sure the family eventually knew at least some of what happened to their child, even if he had no clue how he would accomplish that. This was his final thought, before falling into a restless sleep.

The next day, Harry walked into his classroom still half asleep and very distracted from the night before. He began preparing for his first class of the day, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years. He decided, against his better judgement, to start the term off with something memorable. He knew that the students likely wouldn't be able to cast a patronus charm, but he could at least teach them what they were and how they worked. His office was attached to the classroom, so after placing a small text on the patronus on each student's desk, he went to wait in his office.

After the class arrived and took their seats, he decided to do something a bit dramatic. He sent his patronus ahead of him into the classroom with a message. The stag walked majestically into the classroom, earning a chorus of awed sounds from the students, and began to speak in Harry's voice. _The Patronus, an extremely advanced and difficult charm, used primarily to ward off dark creatures, can also be used to deliver short messages. Today, you will…_ Harry had entered the classroom while the students had been focused on the stag, as it disappeared into a wisp of white smoke, Harry finished, "learn the theory behind the charm, and you will attempt to summon your own patronus."

The class' excitement at idea of using a patronus quickly dissipated, however, as toward the end of the class none of them had even so much as seen a puff of white smoke leave their wands. "Remember, all of you, that the Patronus is not normally even mentioned until fifth year, and most seventh years cannot cast more than a small shield. If you cannot cast it today, however, and you wish to continue attempting, I will be available in my off periods to help you in your attempts. For homework, tonight, I'd like you to write me a short paper on the theory behind the Patronus. Also, for extra points, you may tell me which memory you're using to attempt the charm." He dismissed his first class, feeling that maybe he should have started them with something they were capable of. This feeling disappeared entirely, however, when he saw Scorpius Malfoy try one last time at his desk, and a puff of white smoke appeared from his wand, sat on the desk in front of him for a moment, then disappeared.

Most of the class had gone at this moment, but Harry moved quickly to the blonde boy, "Outstanding!" He exclaimed, "What memory were you using, if you don't mind me asking?" Scorpius' face turned a shade of red just short of the magically enhanced roses sold in Diagon Alley, but he looked Harry squarely in the eye.

"Being sorted into Hufflepuff," the boy said, and seeing Harry's expression, explained, "It's nothing against Slytherin, Professor, I just don't think I would have fit in." Harry could understand this, Scorpius seemed much too reserved and quiet to fit in in Slytherin. He congratulated the boy again and wrote him a note excusing him for being late to Herbology. He would have to keep both eyes on young Scorpius. He noted, as an afterthought, that he'd only given points to one student, and it hadn't been a Gryffindor, he was proud of himself for not showing favoritism, even to his own son.

The next class was third year Slytherins and Gryffindors, which was sure to be a powder keg, especially with his oldest son and Fred's namesake in the class. He was pleasantly surprised, however, that the class seemed oddly well behaved, later he would think that it was likely James' surprise at seeing his father in front of the class. In all, James and Fred both managed to conjure fairly large shields during their attempts at the charm, and quite a few other students managed small puffs of smoke. He gave the class the same homework, then repeated the process with his other classes. At the end of the day, Harry was exhausted. This surprised the former auror, and he determined that he had been underestimating the abilities of his teachers all this time. The only surprise during the day was when a muggle-born girl, a third year from Hufflepuff, cast a fully corporeal patronus. Harry awarded her fifty points from the sheer surprise of seeing the Lioness charging across the room. He also excused her from the weeks homework and allowed her to leave class early.

At the end of the day, he had begun compiling a list of students to start what he had decided would become his pet project, the revival of the dueling club.

He approached Neville with the idea of the dueling club first, knowing that his friend had competed somewhat competitively in the British dueling championships a few years back. He may have been in the finals, by all accounts, had he not been matched against Hermione in the round prior. Harry hadn't competed, of course, being a high-ranking member of law enforcement, he had needed to keep any dark wizards that may have been watching from knowing just what he was made of. The match between Hermione and Neville had lasted nearly an hour and a half, before Hermione finally disarmed him by casting a spell Neville had never seen that just bounced around the arena, splitting into multiple beams as it went… one eventually penetrated his defenses and the distraction gave Hermione the chance to disarm him with a normal expelliarmus. The duel was now a thing of legend among the Hogwarts students, who looked at Neville as something of a hero.

When he entered the greenhouses, he was surprised to find Neville talking to Draco Malfoy in the front of the class. "All right, Harry?" Neville said as he entered, Harry nodded to both professors, and let them continue. "I was just telling Draco that his son has quite a knack for herbalism, he knew everything I asked, up to the fifth-year questions. I tend to ask increasingly difficult questions on the first day to see where everyone falls," Neville explained, Harry thought it was a good strategy, and it seemed much like what he had done with the patronus. He decided to take this moment to inform Draco of his son's achievement.

"I'm not surprised, he managed to cast a patronus charm this morning. Not a very powerful one, of course, just a wisp of smoke, but it was very impressive and the only one cast by a first year in all of my classes." Harry saw the look of pride on Draco's face, and was glad to see that Scorpius' placement hadn't affected his relationship with his father. "I'm actually glad you're here Draco, I'll need both of your help. I'm thinking of reviving the dueling club." The looks on both of their faces told Harry all he needed to know, they were in.

"Maybe you and I should give another demonstration," Malfoy said, laughing, "Unless you're scared, Potter?"

Harry laughed along, "You wish."


	8. The Ride of Your Life

**Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness**

 **Chapter 8: The Ride of Your Life**

Harry stared out of his office window at the Hogwarts Gate, where his wife was due to arrive presently. He had been teaching for nearly a month now, yet this occlumency lesson was the one he was the most nervous about since his first day. Ginny's reaction when Harry had told her of his decision to have Snape's portrait sit in on the lesson had been anything but pleasant, thankfully he had waited until her wand was far from her grasp to tell her. Harry was contemplating this, as Snape stepped into the frame beside him, "She's late, Potter," he said, not with real malice, but with his usual scowl and contempt.

"Oh, I'm sorry professor," Harry said turning to face the portrait, "Do you have pressing business elsewhere?" Snape ignored his jab and continued.

"Perhaps the revelation that I would be assisting in her training scared her off," Snape said, Harry found this extremely unlikely. His wife wouldn't be scared off by a portrait, she was one of the few Gryffindors that wasn't afraid of Snape as their teacher. Harry didn't respond, deciding instead to meet her at the gate. He only got as far as the doors of the castle before she nearly ran him over, only just stopping in time to avoid the collision.

"Sorry I'm late," She said, breathing loudly. "Lily didn't want to go to the Burrow today, something about wanting to see her brothers." Harry pulled her close and pecked her quickly on the cheek. She looked at him iniquitously, clearly having expected a much more affectionate reaction. He had been practically living in the castle during the term, only returning home on weekends. "Really, a peck on the cheek?" She said playfully.

"Well, I can't really go setting a bad example, snogging in the corridors in broad daylight. Think of the children." Harry laughed, "We should at least find a broom closet."

Ginny laughed, "Speaking of the children, are they still in the Great Hall?" She had been wanting to check in on Albus, Harry knew.

"I'd assume Albus is, James and Fred rarely even go to meals, I think they've made good friends with the house elves. They're clearly getting food from the kitchens somehow." Harry went on to tell her how the children were doing in class, and how quidditch try outs were approaching, James would need his broom before the holidays. After a quick stop at the aforementioned broom closet, the pair entered Harry's office, Ginny's hair as messy as Harry's always seemed to be.

"I see your punctuality has not improved since your time in my class, Miss Weasley." Snape's voice made Ginny cringe slightly, the portrait didn't seem to notice, "Apologies," he said sarcastically, "I suppose it is Mrs. Potter, now. While I do appreciate the dumbfounded expression on your face, we do Have a schedule to keep, we can't have you two roaming the corridors after dark."

Ginny seemed poised to rip the frame from the wall but calmed herself. Harry had, after all, explained that Snape may have been the best Occlumens in the world, in his time. Very few wizards could have fooled Voldemort the way he had. "Let's just get this over with. Shall we?" Ginny said, taking a seat.

"You know the basics, I assume?" Snape said, on to the task at hand. Snape was nothing if not direct and effective. "To start, Mr. Potter will attempt to break past your defenses, while you attempt to only show him a specific memory, preferably something he already knows." Ginny nodded, a look of fierce determination on her face.

Harry pointed his wand, "Ready?" He asked, and when she nodded, he cast, "Legilimens." He attacked her mind, and quickly found her defensive memory. It was a happy one, at least, she was practicing quidditch with Harry just before her first professional match with the Harpies. Harry nearly got so wrapped up in watching the memory that he forgot what he was doing, after regaining his train of thought, pushed into the rest of her memories easily. He focused on a different memory, the one from just now of them walking into his office, to show her that he had managed to get through.

He was about to remove himself from her mind when a new memory showed itself. Ginny was walking down the stairway in their home, it was almost pitch black and she held her wand before her, the _Lumos_ barely penetrating the darkness. Harry realized that this must have been just prior to the attack, why had she left him sleeping? When she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyesight changed, it was almost as if the darkness didn't exist anymore. He watched as she turned and walked purposefully toward their room. She grabbed Harry's wand from the bedside table, then, the most disturbing thing happened, she leaned over and kissed Harry on the forehead. That must have been what woke him. She moved more quickly out of the room than she had before, and by the time she reached the stairs, Harry could hear the clock radio start blaring the rock music. Harry knew what happened next, so he stopped the spell. It was many moments before they regained their senses enough to actually speak, and when they had, Ginny spoke first, "I didn't remember," she said, clearly confused. Tears appeared in her eyes, and Snape, for all his faults, knew better than to interrupt, he left the frame, giving them privacy. "Why didn't I remember?"

They decided to give it a rest for the day, Harry hadn't used that spell in quite a while and had, quite honestly, forgotten how taxing it could be. Ginny, for her part, did recover quickly enough to go retrieve Lily from the Burrow and return home. Harry called for Snape to rejoin him and explained what he had seen. Snape, after a moment of contemplation, told Harry to come to the Headmistress' study to speak with Dumbledore.

Harry walked briskly to the gargoyle that guarded the headmistress' office but was surprised when it jumped aside prior to his arrival. A very miffed Rebecca Undercliffe looked upon him, aggravated, "Care to explain to me why I've just been kicked out of my own study, Professor?"

"Can't right now, sorry," Harry said hurriedly, hoping to avoid the conversation entirely. Undercliffe, to her credit, seemed to notice this and decided to wait for his return to raise the subject again. Harry practically ran up the stairs to the study, where he was greeted by the voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry! You've arrived much more quickly than expected!" The old headmaster seemed much to happy for the situation at hand, "Severus has kindly filled me in on the memory you found in Mrs. Potter's mind." Harry was slightly annoyed at this, he wondered if anything could be said to the portraits in this room without Dumbledore hearing of it. "Do you remember, by chance, the altered memory I showed you during the beginning of our hunt for the Horcruxes?" Harry did, of course, remember the memory in question, but was unsure what it could possibly have to do with his situation.

"I do, sir," he said, "Slughorn's memory had been altered."

"You're correct, of course," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling slightly, "I believe the memory you've just experienced in young Ginevra's mind was planted there, in order to cover up what really happened prior to your battle."

Harry, taken aback, asked, "Can a memory be altered that much without being obviously incorrect?" He had seen planted memories during his time as an auror, and they were nearly always so hastily done that there were large inconsistencies, and sometimes they fell apart entirely. "Could we even regain the original, since she didn't have any recollection of the incident other than what we just observed?"

"That, I'm afraid, Is the million-galleon question," Dumbledore said, "Attempting to do so, and failing could have devastating consequences, as you know." Harry knew, yet again from his time as an auror, that the headmaster was speaking the truth. A botched attempt at memory reconstruction could potentially leave one in St. Mungo's, permanently.

"It's not worth the risk, then," Harry said, not willing to consider the option. Not wanting to keep the headmistress out of her office any longer, Harry said his goodbyes and left the study with more questions than answers.

"I trust I'm allowed back in my study, then?" The headmistress' voice carried up the steps before he was even outside the office. The woman was younger than Harry had come to expect from the head of Hogwarts to be, after Dumbledore and McGonagall. "This won't become a common occurrence, I hope?" Harry shook his head, still thinking about the conversation he just had with the headmasters.

Harry snapped back into it just in time to hear the Headmistress ask if he would tell her what was going on. He refused, knowing that eventually she would likely have to be let in on the situation, but now wasn't the time. He decided, quickly, that rather than staying at the castle during the week he would commute. Only heads of houses were required to stay on the grounds, after all.

Commuting between the castle and Godric's Hollow was much better for Harry than living at Hogwarts full time. He, of course, still spent quite a few late nights sleeping on the couch in his office, but at least on most nights he was in his own bed. He had also, against his better judgement, moved the portrait of Snape to one of the empty bedrooms in his home, in order to do Ginny's occlumency lessons in a more comfortable environment.

Today, however, Ginny would be coming to the castle for a much happier event. James was trying out for the house team, a year too late by Harry's estimation, and they would not be missing that. He had used the invisibility cloak to replace James' broom with the new one that morning, so he assumed James had already found it. This suspicion had been verified when he checked the map during his first class of the day and found the dots labeled James Potter and Fred Weasley II, not in class but on the quidditch pitch. He was sure to receive a visit from at least one of their professors, a visit he would redirect to their head of house.

Coincidentally, the dueling club would be meeting the next day. He had spent the majority of his free periods turning a large classroom into a small version of the floor he had seen during the dueling championships years prior. With the help of a few of the other teachers, he had magically installed multiple different landscapes in the room, along with a version that would be used for training with dummies that could cast simple spells and shields. As of yet, none of the students had seen the room and Harry was much looking forward to seeing their expressions when the entire ground level changed for the first duel.

Harry, deciding that Ginny may not be too fond of the idea that their son was skipping class right under his nose, made his way to the greenhouses, where he collected Neville before making his way to the quidditch pitch. He found his son flying low over the field directly toward the base of one of the towering stands. He was just about to shout a warning, sure he would crash, before James pulled up on his broom and flew up the stand, his knees mere inches from the canvas covered wooden stand. He laughed and applauded his son's display of skill. "He'll be a seeker, I'm sure of it," Harry said with pride.

James looked down in absolute horror at his father and head of Gryffindor house, sure he was going to have his new broomstick taken. He flew down and landed in front of the pair, "Hiya, Dad," he stammered, "Nev… I mean… Professor Longbottom." He wore his best _I'm supposed to be here_ expression, which didn't fool either of the men in front of him at all. "Did you come to watch tryouts," He asked.

"Actually, we've come to warn you," Harry started, "Your mother should arrive at any moment, and I'm sure she won't be especially happy with you skipping all of your classes… even for quidditch." Harry could contain his laughter no longer, upon seeing his son's dumbfounded expression. James mounted his broom and flew directly toward Gryffindor tower, followed, not so closely, by Fred.

"We're winning the cup, again." Neville said, still clearly in awe of the skill James flew with, "He'll be the best Potter yet." Neville, for his part, had never been especially good at flying, but he clearly loved watching and betting on the games with the other professors.

Just then Ginny appeared from behind one of the stands, "That was cruel," She said, startling Harry. "Now he'll think he's gotten away with it."

"How long have you been here?" Harry asked, knowing she hadn't been on the map when he left the office.

"Just long enough to see that stunt he pulled," Ginny said, "I still say he'll be a chaser. Hiya Neville."

"Hi Ginny," Neville said, "Been a while."

"Well, who's fault is that?" Ginny scolded, "You never come to the burrow when we invite you!"

Neville chuckled nervously, "Hannah tells me that you lot invite us nearly weekly," he started, "We've been meaning to come but I hardly ever get to leave the castle. When I do, well, you know," His face turned a shade of crimson not far from the Gryffindor canvas hanging from the nearest tower, so Harry decided to change the subject.

"So, Ginny and I have a bet going," Harry started, "About whether James will be a seeker or chaser, you want in?" Harry asked, knowing the answer already.

"I'll put ten galleons on seeker, he's just too damned fast to be a chaser," This earned Neville a glare from Ginny and a pat on the back from Harry. "His team mates would be too far behind for him to pass to anyone."

The tryouts were slated for six that evening and went much as they always had when Harry was in school. The seeker tryouts were first, and James was clearly the best flyer of the three students trying for the position. He caught every single one of the three practice snitches released, leaving the other two to catch a final one to decide who the reserve seeker would be.

The next group to try out were the chasers, this group seemed to include half of Gryffindor house, and ended in the group of Victoire (who was captain), Dominique, and Louis all getting the nod. The American twins, Ian and Ryan, made a fierce beater pair, unseating both seventh years, who complained and decided to not play at all instead of staying on the reserve squad. Fred got keeper, but only just. A first-year student, Amanda Wood, had tried out on a school broom and given him quite the run for his money. Harry thought Fred would need to be looking for a new position in the following year when the girl could bring a better broom to the table.

"Was that Oliver and Katie's daughter?" Ginny asked, Harry hadn't even thought of it, but it made sense. The girl was always so quiet during defense classes, Harry couldn't believe he hadn't put two and two together. He shrugged but made a mental note to talk to the girl after their next class.

After the conclusion of the tryouts, Harry, Ginny, and Neville made their way to the great hall for the feast. Harry, who usually left the grounds before the evening meal, was surprised to find it mostly empty. "Students have started taking their evening meals to their rooms," Malfoy said when Harry asked no one in particular, "Certainly makes for less drama." Harry could understand this. Most arguments, come to think of it, had happened after classes were done for the day. The quiet hall didn't stay that way for long, however, as the students realized that Ginny Potter, the famous chaser turned reporter, was in the castle.

It had taken Harry a while to get used to not being, easily, the most famous witch or wizard in any room he entered, but he admittedly enjoyed it. Around twenty minutes after the entire room was filled, Ginny's owl _Pig_ flew into the hall carrying the tell-tale red envelope enclosing a howler. It dropped the letter in front of James, where the letter hovered before screaming, in Ginny's voice:

 _James Sirius Potter! How dare you skip an entire day's worth of classes?! I have half a mind to send your broom right back across the pond! If I ever hear you've skipped classes, for any reason that isn't life or death, I'll become a permanent presence at the school! I assure you, I won't be nearly as easy going as your father! Oh, and by the way, congratulations on making Seeker, but you've lost me twenty galleons, so you'll be paying that back with chores._

With that, the envelope jumped from the table and ran to the door of the hall tearing off pieces of itself as it went. Harry watched his son's face as the howler did its work. His pigmentation went from normal, to red, to green, and back again during the course of the telling off. He laughed as his son looked up at them, realizing that the howler must have been sent after the tryout had concluded. James joined in the laughter after a few moments, always the good sport.

After the great hall had cleared out, Harry and Ginny made their way back to his office. Before they could floo to the house, however, Ginny asked, "Do you have your broom?" Harry nodded, knowing exactly what she was thinking, and retrieved his old firebolt, he hadn't deemed it prudent to bring the prototype to the school for fear of it being discovered. He and Ginny mounted the broom and flew high into the sky before turning and flying, past the school wards and over Hogsmeade, over the wooded areas near the Burrow, and then, finally, to their own home. They landed softly in the front yard and dismounted.

"How long has it been since we just flew?" Ginny asked, "No destination, just flying. It used to be one of our favorite things to do, and it feels like we've hardly left the ground since this damned _Darkness_ appeared. It feels like we're always just waiting for the next attack, again." Ginny said the last part with more annoyance in her voice than fear.

Harry pulled her close, "Gin, nothing has happened in over a month, and the house is under a fidelius charm," He said, "We're safe, and you've gotten good enough at occlumency that I doubt even Voldemort could get into your head now." Harry told her to wait a moment, while he went inside, he reappeared with both of the new brooms, "As for the whole flying thing," he said, and they flew.

In the alley, across from the place where the Potter home stood, hidden, stood a man in black robes, his face obscured. He watched as the two Potter adults flew above him, unaware of his presence, they flew away, and he saw them return nearly two hours later, disappearing when they reached the property line. They looked, he thought, at ease and happy.

"Good," The man said, "Get comfy, you're in for the ride of your life, Potter." The man smiled, unseen, and spun on the spot, disappearing with a _Pop_.


	9. Duelists and Distractions

**Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Remastered)**

 **Chapter 9:**

 _What a turn out,_ Harry thought during the first meeting of the dueling club. He had been very specific with regard to whom he invited to the first meeting, but word had somehow gotten out and the room was now filled with both the more promising students, as well as everyone else. He had, of course, planned to open the invitation to everyone, eventually. He took his first steps into the middle of the room, excited for the exhibition that he had planned.

"Good evening, everyone." A chorus of children repeated his greeting, "I put together this little club, with the help of the other professors, in order to prepare you for the future. I know dueling sounds fun, and it most certainly can be… But, if and when another conflict breaks out, what you learn here may just save your life. In defense class, we usually only focus on defensive spells and theory, which often prepares you very poorly for what's actually out in the world." A captive audience was one of the things Harry had come to enjoy about being a professor, at the ministry most of the people he spoke to in meetings and briefings were epically distracted. "Today, since we were poorly prepared for the sheer number of students, we'll be having an exhibition. Most duels, in a professional setting, are one-on-one affairs. Today, in order to show you what an actual battle would look like, I've enlisted the help of the rest of the Hogwarts staff, and a special guest." At that, Hermione Granger stepped into the center of the room, allowing the expertly cast disillusionment charm fall off to reveal who she really was. His captive audience was no longer quite as captive, as he had expected, so he magically enhanced his voice.

"Today, we'll be reliving the epic duel between our very own minister, Hermione Granger," she took a slight bow, "And your Gryffindor head of house, Neville Longbottom." Cheers from the Gryffindor contingent overtook even his magically enhanced voice. After they died down slightly, he continued, "This time, however, a twist." Five of the other Hogwarts staff stepped into the center: Malfoy, Flitwick, Undercliffe, Sinistra (Who struck quite an imposing figure, despite her age), and Professor Vector (whom Harry had asked on a whim, after seeing her duel Flitwick during the building of the room). Harry explained that Hermione and Neville would be joined by team members of their choosing, and the order of picks would be determined by a coin toss. Neville won the toss, and chose Flitwick, Vector, and Undercliffe, in that order. Hermione took Harry, Malfoy, and Sinistra (who seemed quite miffed to be picked last). Harry thought it was good that Hermione had not won the toss, having Flitwick on a team with another former champion wouldn't be at all fair. Hagrid, who had somehow managed his way to the front of the crowd, shouted, his voice unaffected by any magic was still louder than Harry's had been. "Ready!"

Almost instantly, the floor, apart from the platform that the duelists stood on, raised itself. At the same time, the landscape of the room where the duelists stood changed into a city street, modeled after Diagon alley. The groups took their positions on opposite sides of the street, in defensive positions. "BEGIN!"

The spells didn't start flying right away, as Harry had expected. He assumed everyone was casting defensive spells as he was. He decided to start the party off with a bang, literally, and cast a harmless spell that really just made a very loud noise when it reached its target. To their credit, none of the other teachers were visibly spooked by the sound, but it did start the fight off in earnest. Flitwick, who had lined up across from Harry, bombarded Harry's position behind a wall with all manner of colorful spells, Harry was hit by one and nothing at all happened, which was curious, perhaps Flitwick was throwing in just spells to give him a false sense of security. He decided, abruptly, to stop being on the defensive, and stepped out from his protections, casting a stunner at the feet of the professor. He dodged a particularly nasty looking blue bolt of lightning and did something quite bold. He stepped forward toward the smaller man and cast a disarming spell, and it connected. Harry hadn't noticed, though, that Flitwick had cast a spell to hold himself in place, when the spell connected, and his wand shot from his left hand toward Harry, _why is he holding his wand left handed,_ He caught it and was already casting a flurry of spells at Harry, whose shield barely held. He conjured a gust of wind strong enough to propel himself to the roof of the shop he had just been hiding in moments before, and bunkered himself down behind the large, stone chimney.

For their part, the rest of his team was performing admirably. Hermione had Undercliffe in quite the same position that Flitwick had Harry, and Malfoy was holding his own against Neville. Harry saw an opening when he checked to see how Sinistra was faring against Professor Vector and cast a stunner toward the unsuspecting Arithmancy teacher. She dodged Harry's spell, but let down her guard in the surprise and was disarmed by Professor Sinistra, who turned her attention to Flitwick immediately, casting with both wands. Harry was too busy being impressed to take advantage of the numbers advantage, though, because moments afterward his cover was destroyed by a stray _Reducto_.

He slid down the roof, casting and deflecting as he went. He didn't cushion his fall, choosing to roll instead. As he came out of the roll, he saw the professor he had just been so impressed by get hit full on with a stunner, distracted by Harry's acrobatics. He and Hermione had fought together enough to know what to do next, they continued to cast defensively and slowly made their way to each other. Hermione, when they finally met in the center, began casting shields and wards while Harry went on the offensive. He first targeted Neville, as a sort of distraction. He hoped Malfoy would take advantage, a spell from Flitwick got through the defenses as Neville turned toward the new threat, and Harry had to take his focus from his offensive spells to help Hermione keep out the three other professors.

Even combined, Harry knew their defenses wouldn't hold for long against the three remaining enemies. He was just about to give up hope, when a huge snake came out of the house on the other side of the street, going straight at Neville. For his part, Neville dealt with the snake swiftly, dispatching it with a stream of fire from the tip of his wand, but the distraction was all Malfoy needed. Malfoy very nearly flew from the same building the snake had come from, and when he was directly above Neville's position, he cast a perfectly aimed stunner that took the professor completely by surprise.

The odds now in their favor, Harry started casting offensively once again, but Flitwick and Undercliffe had learned from Harry and Hermione's example, and were now standing back to back, playing defense. Malfoy had disappeared from sight, once again, and a stalemate ensued. Hermione cast the same spell she had used in the dueling championships to dispatch Neville, but the beams didn't rebound nearly as predictably in the open street. Harry was still casting when the ground underneath him began to crack, directly between himself and Hermione. They found themselves, moments later on opposite sides of a large split in the ground. Separated, their defenses weren't nearly as strong, and Harry was sure one of them would soon be dispatched if they didn't reunite. Somewhat on a whim, Harry ran, headlong, at the other professors. He managed to dodge the first two spells, and then saw a disarming charm flying his way. He had, subconsciously, switched his wand to his left hand, and he made no attempt to dodge the approaching spell, instead positioning himself so that it would knock him in the direction he wanted to move. The spell hit, and his wand was ripped from his hand. With a seeker's reflexes, he grabbed for the wand with his right hand, and caught it just barely. He cast one stunner, just to keep the other team honest, as he flew, directly at Hermione. He hadn't expected, however, Flitwick to reflect his spell, instead of just blocking it. He was hit squarely by the spell, and thus removed from the fight.

The rest of the fight, as Harry watched from his new position on the ground, went very quickly. Hermione, having plenty of time to prepare while Harry did his theatrical last effort, finally went on the offensive, dispatching Undercliffe by hitting the building to her back with a _Reducto_ curse, the distraction of the rock and gravel falling around her was enough for Hermione to sneak in a disarming spell and disarm the headmistress. Flitwick, sensing that his position was now at risk, summoned his partners wand before it could reach Hermione's hand, and the wand hung in the air between them, both spells working at odds with each other. The pair, unaware that Malfoy was even still involved in the battle, focused on the floating wand, using all their power to gain access to the one advantage still available to them.

Malfoy walked, with purpose, from a shop at the end of the street and shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The first spell that had been cast verbally in the entire match. This surprised the other two competitors enough to make them drop the hovering wand, and the blindingly white snake slithered toward them. It disappeared as it reached Flitwick's shield, but it had accomplished its goal, and Malfoy appeared in the air above his head, casting a stunner instantly. Flitwick blocked the spell easily but had to turn his attention away from the champion duelist across from him, he haphazardly dodged Hermione's spells, but walked right into a large pile of rubble, and found his leg stuck as the rocks transformed into a hand and began pulling him into the pile. Harry saw the smirk appear on Malfoy's face, just as a stunner cast from where he had been to cast the patronus, struck the professor and he fell, stunned.

The applause from the students was deafening, and when Harry could move again, he joined in. Malfoy and Hermione took a bow, and the platform the crowd had been watching from fell back to the ground slowly.

"Let's hear it again, for your potions master, Professor Malfoy!" Harry said, and the applause began again, in earnest. "Now, since we've got much too many of you to do just one meeting a week, we'll need to split the groups into separate days, the times will be posted in all of your classes and you will be separated by years," This was met with silence as the students listened intently to find out more about their next meeting. "Also, I've cleared it with the Minister, and I'd like to announce the first ever Hogwarts Dueling Championship! Each house will choose a champion from each year, and they will compete against each other, these champions will be competing for house points, but for the older years, sixth and seventh years to be exact, you will be competing for something much more exciting," the crowd, once again, grew quiet. "The two winners from the NEWT level classes will be a part of the Student Dueling Championships, where they will compete against the champions from other schools all over the world. We're still working out the details on the latter event, but the Hogwarts tournaments will be held at the end of term."

The amount of excited chatter as the students left the dueling room was incredible, and Harry was more excited than ever for the dueling club. He was also more than a bit sore.

Harry hadn't fully anticipated the amount of publicity the Hogwarts Dueling Championships would attract. Since he and Hermione had announced the event to the press at the ministry the week prior, Harry couldn't even teach a class without owls flocking to his classroom windows. Ginny, of course, had broken the story just as the press conference had started, since she had the information in advance. The overwhelming majority of people were incredibly excited for the championships, and clamoring for the ability to come to the grounds to spectate.

Harry and Hermione had attempted to deny this for quite a while, but ultimately decided the best option was to allow certain members of the press and high-ranking officials from the other schools, along with family members of the competitors onto the grounds to observe the competition.

There had also been a large amount of resistance to the idea of younger students dueling at all, much less in a competitive setting. Harry thought the fear was largely unfounded, as the younger students likely couldn't even cast anything more than a simple disarming spell, but again he was forced to relent, and restrict the championship to students from fifth-year, up. The event was still weeks away, when he received the first owl from one of the other schools headmasters, Adrian Borage of Castelobruxo (The Brazilian school), whose name sounded very familiar to Harry, he claimed that his students were very excited by the idea of a dueling competition and he had decided to allow it and would allow them to participate in the international competition. This was only the first of many messages, and soon he had eight schools (including Hogwarts) signed up to compete in the first ever scholastic dueling event. Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Ilvermorny (North America), Mahoutokoro (Japan), Uagadou (Africa), and the Salem Institute (United States) had all confirmed that they would be competing.

Planning the event was surely going to prove to be a massive headache, but it had seemingly taken everyone's mind off the always threatening _darkness_ and Harry was thankful for that.


	10. Hogwarts Disaster

**Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness**

 **Chapter 10: Hogwarts Disaster**

Harry was pondering how fast the term had gone by, as he observed the ongoing 5th year dueling club meeting. They had been practicing dodging spells, and casting at a moving target. He had drifted farther into his thoughts, until a stunner barely missed his head, drawing his attention back to the class. "Best pay attention, Potter," Malfoy said, "Mr. Hunter obviously thinks you are his partner." Melvin Hunter, one of the brightest fifth year students, by Harry's estimation anyway, proved to be the culprit. His spellwork, if not his aim, was incredibly advanced for his age.

"I'm sure Mr. Hunter was only looking to test himself against tougher competition," Harry said, laughing. He had, surprisingly, come to enjoy having Draco Malfoy in the club. Neville was there today also, although he seemed to spend most of his free periods in the greenhouses lately. Harry had asked him what was so important, once, but Neville had deftly avoided the question. He had decided to leave it alone, Neville would tell him when he was ready.

Harry was also very impressed with the number of students in his younger classes who could produce a patronus charm, to his knowledge, there were multiple first years casting the charm with some success, none with corporeal ones, however. A fairly large amount of second years could conjure a corporeal version, but Harry suspected most would fail to do so in front of an actual dementor. There was truly no way to test this theory, though, as none of the students' Boggarts had turned into one. Harry's own Boggart had changed forms various times in his life, he had no interest in knowing what it would become now.

Harry called a ceasefire to the club and, after the final few stray spells had been dealt with, addressed them from the raised podium. "I have a small announcement to make!" he said, noting the look of curiosity spread across the room, "The votes have been counted, and the champions from each year have been decided." A murmur, increasing in volume, spread across the room, Harry raised his hand to silence the crowd again. "I will be posting the results in my classroom, as will many of the other professors. But, since all of you are here already, it would be a waste to withhold the information any longer. With the wave of his hand, Harry removed the enchantment hiding the lists that had been posted prior to the class. The students, silence broken, nearly sprinted to see the results.

 _ **House Champions**_

 _Gryffindor_

 _Fifth Year: Dominique Weasley_

 _Sixth Year: Sascha Bell_

 _Seventh Year: Victiore Weasley_

 _RavenClaw_

 _Fifth Year: Roscoe Winthrop_

 _Sixth Year: Louis Achthoven_

 _Seventh Year: Leyton Tipton_

 _Slytherin_

 _Fifth Year: Lynsay Ryley_

 _Sixth Year: Haden Hailey_

 _Seventh Year: Luvenia Killough_

 _Hufflepuff_

 _Fifth Year: Wenonah Phillips_

 _Sixth Year: Billy Driscoll_

 _Seventh Year: Tucker Able_

Harry watched as the members of each house congratulated their champions, each of them choosing their respective seconds. It was understood that the position was largely ceremonial, as any spell that disarmed or incapacitated the opponent would result in a win, rendering a second completely pointless.

The term continued to fly by, as students prepared for the tournament, which was scheduled for the next day. Usually, Harry realized, quidditch would be the main topic on the way to watch the first match of the season. The excitement in the crowd was palpable, but it seemed to be a mixture of excitement for the game, and anticipation for tomorrow's event.

Gryffindor was slated to open the season against the defending champion, Hufflepuff. Teddy had a great deal to do with Hufflepuff's dominance, Harry knew, so maybe this year would see their dynasty end. The teams took to the pitch, and the referee, whose name seemingly always alluded Harry, tossed the quaffle high into the air, starting the match.

The match looked lost within the first few minutes, with Hufflepuff pulling to a fifty to ten lead after only a minute of play. The lead grew as the game went on, until James seemingly spotted the snitch, Gryffindor was only down by ninety points at the time, and Harry was sure that James would end the game, he could see the snitch nearly within his grasp, before a well-aimed bludger hit James dead in the stomach, nearly knocking him from his broom. Ginny gasped beside Harry, she and Hannah had arrived shortly after the start of the match. James, breath temporarily knocked out of him, began circling high above the pitch, scanning the area. The Hufflepuff seeker, seeing how much faster James was, had given up on winning the race for the snitch, instead focusing on assisting his chasers. It was a good strategy, Harry thought, with the lead already nearly over one-hundred points.

The game was nearly out of hand, with Hufflepuff leading by one-hundred and thirty points, and in possession, when James saw it again. Harry watched as his son flew, as if shot out of a cannon, toward the small golden speck near the ground. _Too near the ground,_ Harry realized, with a sense of dread. James continued his dive, undeterred by the realization Harry was affected by. Slightly earlier than Harry had expected, James pulled out of his dive. The snitch would be below his broom when he reached it at this height. Harry heard the crowd, clearly pro-Gryffindor after the years of Hufflepuff dominance, groan as Hufflepuff scored, one possession away from putting the game out of reach. Harry felt the same, but James was still closing on the snitch, albeit a bit too high. At the last moment, James turned his broom over in a barrel roll, releasing both hands to grasp at the snitch. He fell off, which he must have known was going to happen, releasing his broom like that. Harry saw his son's hand close around the snitch, right before the other arm, used to break the fall, buckled and clearly snapped.

Harry was on his feet before his son came to a complete stop, but before he could even reach the edge of the stand, James was back on his feet, holding his remaining good arm over his head, snitch in hand. Gryffindor had won by a mere ten points and the crowd was going insane. Harry was still worried about his son's broken arm, and likely broken ribs based on his expression when his teammates joined him and attempted to embrace their new quidditch hero. Thankfully for James, the new healer (Madam Pomfrey had retired upon James and Fred's second year, stating that "Once was quite enough, thank you very much) arrived on the scene.

Hannah Abbott, or Longbottom now, Neville's wife who had recently applied for the position, was still working primarily at St. Mungo's but would likely be taking over as the school's Matron after the holidays, stood over the third year, who was smiling from ear to ear despite the pain of a broken arm that was bringing tears to his eyes. She aimed her wand at the arm, which seemed the most urgent of the injuries, and healed it almost instantly. Her focus moved from the arm to the broken ribs, which also healed easily, if a bit more painfully. She hoped, against what she already knew about the potter child, that the pain would deter him from any more reckless stunts like the one he had just pulled, so she left the smaller scratches and cuts to remind him not to take unnecessary risks in the future.

Harry watched as his son was swept away by his housemates, no doubt Neville would have to break up the party in the common room tonight, more than once if Harry's time at Hogwarts was any indication of the present state of the houses. Harry, relieved that there hadn't been any lasting injuries, joined in the small celebration in the staff stand. Everyone seemed thoroughly excited by the ending, including his wife, who seemingly hadn't missed a beat worrying about James after he his late game dramatics.

Harry and Ginny made their way home, accompanied by Lily, still chattering excitedly about how thrilling the game had been. Harry thought, to himself, that they may turn Lily into a quidditch player yet.

The next day's classes were cancelled, after all of the professors realized that the only thing happening in their classes was talk about the looming tournament. When Harry made his way to the Quidditch pitch, which had somehow been transformed into a dueling stage, much larger than the one in the practice room.

The fifth years dueled first, with Dominique easily defeating her first opponent, Slytherin Lynsay Ryley. Wenonah Phillips, the Hufflepuff champion, fell after a much more exciting match against the Ravenclaw Roscoe Winthrop. The championship match was much less exciting, Harry suspected this was because Roscoe had quite the crush on the part-veela Dominique. Dominique easily disarmed the Ravenclaw, claiming the Fifth-year championship for Gryffindor.

The sixth-year championship was much more competitive, with Slytherin Haden Hailey eliminating Louis Achthoven, of Ravenclaw, after a nearly twenty-minute bout. Sacha Bell, Katie Bell's daughter, was defeated by Hufflepuff's Billy Driscoll in a short, but competitive match. The sixth-year championship saw Driscoll, who was considerably less tired after having a much shorter match, quite literally running circles around Hailey, defeating the Slytherin much more easily than anyone expected after the show Hailey had put on against his earlier opponent.

The seventh-year students were much more advanced than their sixth-year peers. As such, the duels were much longer, and more exciting than the previous groups had been. Victiore, true to her name, ended victorious in her first match against Ravenclaw Leyton Tipton after almost of back and forth which seemed to be the most well-matched pairing so far. Not to be outdone, Slytherin Killough and Hufflepuff Tucker Able put on one of the most fun displays of non-verbal casting that Harry had seen from people their age. The Slytherin came out on top, ultimately, after managing to freeze the stage below his opponent and knock the Hufflepuff off balance just long enough to stun and disarm the surprised seventh-year. The two remaining combatants were given a short break, that was unexpectedly extended.

As the two finalists took to the stage and bowed to each other, all hell broke loose. Darkness fell in midday, and a still fell across the grounds like nothing Harry had ever seen for a moment, before the spells started flying. A man Harry recognized from his time at the ministry, but couldn't quite place, cast the first spell, directly at one of the American students. To the boy's credit, he was ready, and reflected the red bolt directly at the attacker, who blocked it, but not Harry's stunner. The red streak hit the man directly in the back, and he crumpled.

The battle wasn't over, however, as the school's wards, temporarily weakened for the tournament, started the loud warning sound that there were unwanted visitors. Harry, knowing time was short, took control. "Prefects!" He yelled, his magically amplified voice carried over the grounds, "Take control of your houses! Bring them to the Great Hall and lock the door!" He noted that some of the Gryffindors in the sixth and seventh years decided to not accompany their fellow students, instead drawing their wands and joining the adults in moving toward the forest, where a group of men in black robes had started emerging from the tree-line.

Harry, flanked by Neville and Undercliffe, led the charge, already casting defensive spells on his destination. A large group of students, led by Malfoy, went toward the broom shed, instead of following Harry's group. Kicking himself for not thinking of it first, Harry set to work as a distraction. He, with help from Neville, pulled the ground up in front of them, forming a thick, shoulder high wall of stone and dirt. This barrier came just in time, as it were, at that moment the intruders attacked at once with a barrage of Killing curses. The majority of them landed harmlessly against the newly formed wall, barely even chipping the stones. Harry reached into his robes, how had he forgotten, he grabbed the new coin Hermione had given him and pressed hard on either side.

Harry, going on pure instincts, attacked with a flurry of stunners and cutting spells, aiming the majority of the latter at the legs of the attackers. So far, he thought, no one had died, save a few of the assailants. At this thought, Harry looked up at the sky and saw a large group of students and professors on broomsticks, attacking the intruders from above. What happened next would change the course of Harry's life, and of Hogwarts, indefinitely. The golems, Harry had gathered what they were by now, seeing that they all cast at once, in waves, cast a barrage of killing curses, at the students flying above. Most of them flew, harmlessly, through the moving targets. One, though, would have found its mark, had it not been for the quick thinking of the headmistress, who used an _Accio_ charm on the flying student's robes, pulling them from their broom toward the barrier. Harry turned just in time to see what happened next. The headmistress, focused entirely on saving the student, was hit by a green light, a single green light that had been cast directly at their position. Harry watched in horror as the light connected, and all life left the woman's body, leaving her lying, lifeless, on the ground.

An anger, unlike any Harry had felt in many years, filled him at that moment and he jumped from the cover of the wall casting a spell he hadn't ever cast, but knew exactly what it meant if he couldn't control it. The _Fiendfyre_ sprung from his wand, moving straight at the figure that had cast the spell. Harry watched as the figure smiled just before the fire overtook it, disintegrating it on the spot. Harry allowed the enchanted fire spread over the group of attackers, they were still casting killing curses, but the eagles that continually sprung from the fire intercepted the spells, stopping them in their tracks. As the final attacker fell into a mound of ash, Harry could feel his control over the fire waning quickly, he ended the spell with a great effort, and watched as the fire pulled itself back into his wand, leaving a large burnt area where the attackers had been just before. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was the mournful scream of a large puma, as the cat felt the loss of it's master.


	11. Funeral for a Headmistress

**Author's Note: First, sorry for the wait. Was in the middle of a training event and this chapter was the first that I didn't have any template from the original book for. It was, also, a fairly hard chapter to write and I'm still not 100% if I'm happy with how it turned out. It may be that I have to revisit this chapter later on to flesh it out a bit more, but for now I'd like to just continue the story and not get too bogged down with one chapter.**

Harry first awoke in an all too familiar location, the Hogwarts infirmary. Hannah, in stark contrast to the bustling Madam Pomfrey, sat at a small table in the corner of the room. Harry noticed that it was dark, and that most of the beds in the room were filled. He attempted to sit, but failed, exhausted. He fell from consciousness shortly after.

He awoke again, to find himself the only remaining patient. Rather than attempting to sit, he took stock of his surroundings. The sun was clearly out, and the light coming from the large window made his head hurt. Hannah didn't seem to be in the room, probably in the small, attached office. He decided, in the end, to get someone's attention. He tried to call her by name, but his voice was gone and all that came out was an odd sound that Harry scarcely heard himself.

He cleared his throat, steeling himself for another attempt, but before he could try again, Hannah came quickly from the office, looking quite flustered. "Harry, I was beginning to worry you wouldn't wake." She seemed to notice his discomfort at being unable to speak, "Oh yes, I nearly forgot," she waved her wand almost nonchalantly, and whatever was blocking his speech fell away, "We had to silence you somehow, you were talking in your sleep quite loudly and keeping the other patients awake. How do you feel?"

Harry thought this question was quite odd, he felt weaker than he could ever remember feeling, but otherwise, he could tell that his body was not hurt. "Weak," he said, voice cracking, "How long?" He hoped Hannah would understand, or at least hear, his question.

She did, and her answer surprised Harry more than he had expected, "Twenty-two days, twenty-three if you count today." She saw his shock and her face softened, "You performed quite the impressive display of magic," she explained, "No one has ever seen that much fiendfyre controlled for that long, Dumbledore himself rarely experimented with it." She attempted to keep her voice steady, but Harry thought he could hear something resembling fear in her words. "You may have saved quite a few lives, but you pushed yourself too far. Your magic, I'm afraid, may take quite some time to recover. That weakness you're feeling is what some of us in the industry call _magical-exhaustion,_ it's not all that serious, though. A few weeks of therapy and you should be able to start casting again, and in a few months, you'll be basically as strong as you were before."

Harry found his voice, "A few months?" He asked, feeling the words more than actually hearing them. Time, he guessed, was something they had very little of, after the attack.

"Yes," Hannah said, "I'm afraid so. In the meantime, you should try to rest a bit more. I'll call Ginny." With that, she left Harry alone again with his thoughts. Before long, his wife practically flew into the hospital wing.

"Harry. James. Potter." She scolded, "Do you understand how worried I've been?" She had clearly been crying, Harry could see.

"Sorry, Gin." He said in response, "How're the kids?"

"Scared," She said, voice shaking slightly, "We all are, Hogwarts is supposed to be the safest place in Britain and those monsters still got in." Ginny calmed down considerably after a few minutes and filled Harry in on the aftermath of the attack. "We collected the wounded, and the headmistress, and brought them to the castle. Malfoy and Hannah worked for three days straight healing everyone and the rest of the staff, along with half the ministry, went to work reinforcing the school's defenses." She paused, Harry assumed, for him to ask questions. When he did not, she continued, "The unspeakables took the… um… remains of the attackers back to the ministry, and Hermione says that all of them were golems, except one." Harry was confused, but Ginny didn't give him a chance to ask questions, "The one that killed Undercliffe, that one was a human, at least according to the Unspeakables, it would explain why he was able to aim autonomously. Of course, there wasn't much left of him for the Unspeakables to get much more information."

Ginny went on to explain that the headmistress' position had, as of yet, not been filled, but Neville was performing her duties until a decision could be made. After a while, Hermione and Ron joined them, as did James and Albus, accompanied by nearly all of the Weasley children. Hermione told Harry that the working theory in the ministry was that the _darkness,_ whoever he was, died during the attack. Harry agreed when she said that was highly unlikely, but he knew that in Britain most people seemed to prefer avoiding the problem until it wasn't possible to avoid it any longer. She also, after consulting with quite a few wand makers, told Harry that the phoenix feather in his wand made it more capable of controlling the fiendfyre than most.

Nearly three hours passed, and Harry was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion, when the last visitor left the infirmary.

After another bedridden two days, Harry was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing. He felt almost back to normal, apart from being unable to cast most spells past a first-year level. It was, he noticed, almost as if he were handicapped. Hannah wanted to keep Harry in the infirmary for another couple days, but Harry was done lying around. Undercliffe's body would be returning to the school for her memorial service today and Harry would not miss it, he owed the witch at least that much.

The memorial service, while smaller, was eerily similar to the one Harry attended for another Headmaster. Everyone was still clearly shaken from the attack, including, Harry realized, his own wife. She had never met the headmistress, not really. They had seen each other and exchanged greetings and meaningless small talk but as far as Harry was aware, they had never had any meaningful conversation. The headmistress' large cats prowled around the platform on which the white, marble coffin lay. They seemed uneasy, Harry thought, he didn't know much about the animals, but they didn't seem at all interested in the crowd. He could have sworn he heard one of them growling softly.

The eulogy was delivered by an emotional man whom Harry suspected to be Undercliffe's father. He, to his credit, did not lose his composure until the end of his prepared statement. Afterward, as the man stood to the side of the crowd sobbing into his handkerchief, the students and staff members began to walk forward one at a time to pay their respects. The entire ceremony had been quite lovely, with very little of the same uneasy silence that had accompanied Albus' memorial, Harry was just starting to think that the two events may have not been as similar as he expected when he was ultimately proven correct in the worst way.

The three cats stopped circling the coffin all at once and started growling up at the white stone, the crowd, who had been starting to disperse quietly, stopped altogether to turn and stare at the commotion. The entire coffin was shaking violently and eventually the top, a which must have weighed almost twice as much as Hagrid, was blown ten feet straight into the air and utterly destroyed. Harry drew his wand, knowing there was very little he could actually do without his magic at full strength. The growling reached a much higher pitch as the body of the Headmistress rose from the coffin in an oddly familiar way. She was still clearly dead, but her eyes were glowing with a dim green light that Harry had only ever seen once. She turned stiffly, like a marionette, to face the crowd. Harry was vaguely aware of the man who had recently given the eulogy passing out from the shock.

The voice that came from the headmistress' unmoving mouth was slightly muffled, but still understandable from Harry's position at the front of the crowd. "Harry, I'm disappointed," the voice, same as the one that had been used by the small muggle boy the darkness had once used as a messenger, said, "You've gone and killed one of my protégés, not the most promising of them, of course, but quite proficient at his mind control spells." The voice sounded mildly annoyed, but continued in an indifferent tone, "I see he at least gave me a perfect messenger, so he didn't fail entirely. Now, to the matter at hand," the blank, staring eyes moved across the crowd, "Hogwarts is, at this very moment, harboring a group of American children. Were it not for this, I would have had no reason to interrupt your little dueling tournament, and your headmistress would still be alive. I will allow your new leadership, along with your ministry, to reconsider their position and end their protection of these fugitives. Should they not, the attacks shall continue." The expression on the headmistress' face changed to a smile that was so out of place and clearly evil, "Honestly, I really hope the entire country is headstrong like Mr. Potter, breaking the strong ones is always more fun." The possessed corpse was starting to shine with the same green light, almost as if it were being burned from the inside, "It would appear my time is up, I'll see you soon." With that, the headmistress' body exploded in a flash of green light, leaving a cloud of ash raining down near the platform.

Chaos erupted in the crowd, fear always seemed to have this effect. Harry didn't know exactly what to do, luckily, he didn't have to do anything, as Neville took to the podium and addressed the crowd confidently. "Hogwarts students and staff!" he shouted, his voice amplified, "We have, in the last month, been threatened and attacked. I won't ask any of you to hide your fear, it's the most natural reaction to what you've seen today." Harry noticed the crowd slowly calm down as his words reached them, "Some of us have had the misfortune of growing up through the most destructive conflict in the history of magical Britain, but that misfortune makes us one of the worst possible targets for this type of fear-mongering." Harry watched as the rest of the adults in attendance began to nod and murmur amongst themselves. "Darkness, clearly, has returned to our doorstep, in full force. But, as we have countless times before, we WILL drive it out once again." Neville raised his wand and his patronus, a majestic lion, appeared between the podium and the crowd. Following his lead, Harry raised his wand, fully expecting nothing to happen. To his surprise, the familiar stag bounded out of his wand to stand near Neville's lion, which had been joined by a lioness.

 _That must be Hannah's_ , Harry thought, as more and more patronus charms were cast, filling the grounds with the largest variety of the glowing animals Harry had ever seen. With no dark creatures to drive away, and apparently sensing their casters' intent, the animals merely stood facing the decimated coffin respectfully. Harry saw that the man, presumably Undercliffe's father, had finally awoken, and through his tears, he managed to cast his own patronus, a puma.

The charms, by their very nature, filled the entire area with a sense of peace. Harry, even through the positive feelings, wondered silently how long it would be before the rest of the people on the grounds would feel such peace again.

End of term was approaching rapidly, with the winter holiday break starting on Friday. Harry watched as the list of students set to remain at the castle for Christmas exploded. He assumed this rise in number was due to the fear that had apparently spread through the country rather quickly. Most people still believed Hogwarts to be the safest place, regardless of the two events that recently occurred. Harry tended to agree with that sentiment, and if his home wasn't nearly as well protected as the castle itself, he would have been tempted to leave his sons to their own devices over the holiday.

At the same time, the older teachers seemed to be less inclined to remain at the castle for another conflict, and many had already tendered their resignations for the end of term. Harry was not envious of whoever was appointed as the next headmaster or headmistress, as they would be replacing very nearly half of the staff. The Board of Governors was currently debating the next appointment and were expected to decide within the next twenty-four hours. Harry knew that Neville was likely the top choice, but he was unsure if his friend would accept the position. McGonagall, who had only recently retired, would likely be approached for the position as well. Harry expected she would turn down the position, but the witch had surprised him before. That left only a few qualified witches and wizards to take up the position.

The answer to the question came in the form of Kingsley, who arrived on the grounds just as the sun fell behind the castle. The former minister of magic cut an imposing figure in his colorful robes and walked with an air of confidence that, to those that didn't know him, could come across as arrogance. Harry watched the man make his way across the grounds to the large front doorway of the castle, he bent forward to pet the pumas, which had all taken to guarding the entrance to the castle. Harry opened the doors to meet him, smiling. "Hello, Minister Shacklebolt." He said with an exaggerated bow.

"Oh please, Harry," Kingsley said, laughing, "I'm not minister anymore, and if anyone has earned the right to call me Kingsley it's the _Chosen One."_ They shook hands, laughing.

"So, what's the news?" Harry asked, eager to know the decision the governors had come to.

"Well," Kingsley started, "Minerva turned the position down, rather emphatically, but has offered to take over the transfiguration post, should we need her services." Harry must have looked rather surprised because Kingsley laughed once again. "I'm here to offer the position to Neville and, should he decline, take up the position myself." Harry hadn't expected this turn of events, but it made sense, Kingsley was likely one of the most powerful wizards in Britain, and he must have been getting stir-crazy in his retirement.

Harry showed Kingsley to the greenhouses, and they found Neville tending the strangely humanoid-looking plant from earlier in the term, Harry wasn't sure, but it seemed a bit larger. He put those thoughts aside and turned his attention back to the matter at hand. He listened as Kingsley pitched the job offer to Neville. "So, what do you think Professor?" Kingsley asked, in conclusion.

"I'm honored, minister," Neville started, his tone told Harry all he needed to know, "But, I don't think I'm the right man for the job. I'm only the deputy headmaster because McGonagall wanted a Gryffindor to be her second-in command. Besides, my wife would probably kill me if I took this specific job."

Kingsley smiled, understanding, "If you're sure," He offered, and when Neville nodded, "Well, I hope you'll maintain your position under the new headmaster." He offered Neville his hand, who took it, confused. Harry watched as Neville met his eyes and, after a moment, he understood.

"Of course," Neville said, beaming, "Couldn't stay retired forever, eh Minist… Er, Headmaster, I suppose." The three of them spent the next twenty minutes catching up, before Kingsley changed the subject.

"Shall we join the feast?" the former Minister, turned headmaster, asked, "I think we've got an announcement to make." They made their way to the great hall, and Kingsley threw open the doors, causing the conversation to stop quite abruptly. The students watched as the man, who most of them new as the former minister and one of the most powerful men in the country, made his way to the front of the hall and took his seat, the headmaster's seat.

The cheering that followed rivaled the outburst when Gryffindor had won the house cup during Harry's first year.


	12. Revelation

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness

Chapter 12: Misdirections

Hermione arrived at the nearest apparition point to Hogwarts, her robes billowed in the wind as she made her way through the familiar gates, past the memorial to honor the fallen in the Battle of Hogwarts, and eventually into the castle itself. Her predecessor would be waiting in his new office, and she wasn't going to keep Kingsley Shacklebolt waiting. The gargoyle moved swiftly out of the way, without expecting a password, and she made her way up the spiral staircase.

The office had scarcely changed since Kingsley had taken over, this wasn't quite a surprise, as he had only held the office for the better part of a week. "Hermione!" a voice from down the stairway snapped her out of her own thoughts.

Harry entered the office, having been summoned by the new headmaster, to find Hermione Granger deep in thought. He could see that his abrupt greeting had startled her and laughed at the flustered expression on her face. "Harry," She said, exasperated, "How are you?"

"Oh, you know," Harry started, "Same old, same old. I'm always getting called into the headmaster's office in the wee hours of the morning." In truth, Harry was quite annoyed at being awake at this time, but if Hermione had been summoned as well, there could be a real crisis. This was unlikely, though, as Kingsley was late for his own meeting.

"Good, you're both here." _Speak of the devil_ "We have much to discuss," Kingsley wore a large, ornate cloak of purple and white, and Harry could see by the bags beneath his eyes that he had likely been sleeping just prior to the meeting. "Please, sit," two chairs appeared with a quick flick of Kingsley's wand and the pair sat.

"As much as I appreciate the invitation, Headmaster," Harry started, "I'd like nothing more than to get home before my wife wakes up and realizes I've disappeared." Ginny had been sleeping quite soundly when he left and, in the current climate, may call half of the Weasley family to search for him if she awoke now to find him gone.

"Yes, yes," Kingsley said, "I apologize for the inconvenience, but this could not wait." He summoned a large newspaper from his desk and held it out for Harry and Hermione to read.

 _Disgraced Minister Escapes_

 _Giles Dwight Ganza, the former minister for magic for the United States of America, escaped from Alcatraz early this morning. He left, in his wake, seven dead guards, along with countless injured law enforcement officials. He is accompanied by an unknown number of escaped convicts; the full listing of names can be found on pp. 10-12. The former minister is to be considered armed, and very dangerous. Anyone with information on any of the escapees should contact their nearest government officials. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to detain or confront them._

The article was accompanied by a large picture of the former official. Giles Ganza still looked every bit the politician, smiling even on his mugshot. "So, the maniac escaped." Harry said, "What does that have to do with us?"

"Look at the date, Harry," Hermione said, pointing it out to him. Harry looked at the date in the top corner, and his heart dropped. _August 31, 2017_

"That can't be right, that's one day before the start of term." Harry was certain their American guests would have known about this already and wondered why they wouldn't have mentioned it.

"I think it's time we speak to our new friends," Kingsley said, standing. "I've opened the floo network in my study, shall we?"

When Harry arrived, unannounced, at the flat where the Americans were staying, he was greeted by a flurry of disarming and stunning spells, luckily, he had prepared since last time and they all either missed or were deflected by his shield charm as he ducked out of the fireplace. "It's only me," he said, "put those things away." They did, and Harry told them that Hermione and Kingsley would be arriving shortly. After introducing them to Kingsley, Harry decided it was best to get right to the point. "Why, if I might ask, were we not informed that this crazed lunatic was free?" He pointed to the article, more specifically to the picture of the former minister.

The Americans shared a look, one that told Harry they knew well in advance that this would eventually become a problem. "We didn't tell you at first, because we didn't know if we could trust you," Claire said, before she saw the look on his face and added, "We've had our fair share of celebrities go dark on us," she pointed at the paper.

"Well, once you knew you could, why didn't give us some sort of warning?" Hermione asked, "We've kept you and your children safe for an entire term, taking losses of our own in the process, and we have to find out about this escape from a months old paper." She sounded hurt, and Harry could see the sense of betrayal on her face.

"Because," Adam said, "We're pretty sure it isn't Giles coming after us."

"Well, who is it then?" Harry asked, still quite annoyed at the Americans for withholding such a vital piece of information. "Because from where I'm standing it looks like you lot have been keeping the most valuable piece of information, we've found so far in this conflict to yourselves, since the day we met."

"You're right," Tyler, who had been sitting in quite a relaxed manner, so far, said. "But I'm afraid we've been withholding something much more valuable. You should sit down, I think." Harry obliged, along with Hermione. Kingsley continued to stand, however, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going. Tyler continued, "I'll need to start this story sort of in the middle, when all of us were in the employ of Minister Ganza, he had only recently taken office and the country was more divided than it had been, by all accounts, since the No-Maj Civil War. In America, we're much less isolated from the nonmagical society than here in Europe. Witches and Wizards hold many of the most powerful positions in government and the economy. This wasn't always the case, of course, but after we had our own run in with that Grindelwald, many of our more powerful and influential wizards started going into hiding and taking up roles in No-Maj communities." Tyler paused, realizing he was getting pretty far off topic, "Anyway, we were very wary of assassination attempts upon his election, and actually faced a few of them within the first two months. Protecting the minister was our charge, and it seemed inevitable that we would fail, eventually. So, we needed a way to keep him safe, and we didn't trust anyone enough to add to our ranks from the outside. We eventually, against my better judgement, decided to take part in a ritual that would allow us all to share our power. This way, we didn't all need to be together at once to keep our charge safe."

"What kind of ritual is capable of such a feat?" Kingsley asked, "Especially over a large group such as yours."

"Admittedly, it wasn't entirely legal," Tyler said, "I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it was Native American, and blood-magic."

"That's very dark magic," Hermione said, with surprised anger in her voice.

"Oh, and fiendfyre isn't?" Adam asked sarcastically.

"I'm not proud of it," Tyler interrupted before the situation could deteriorate, "None of us are, and we weren't all involved in the ritual, the Minister's 'Secret Service' was made up of nearly seventy former law enforcement and military wizards. Only thirteen of our most powerful were involved, and it had quite the unexpected side-effect." He glanced around the room, uneasy, "Blood magic, while powerful, doesn't only effect the people involved. It effects the entire living bloodline, and in some cases, it can have even longer lasting consequences."

"We spent a few months enjoying our newfound power, until the first death happened. Wyatt, one of our own, had a son who died in the second month after the ritual, unexpectedly, and we found ourselves empowered exponentially upon his passing. It was as if we had all received a share of his power, and it was intoxicating. Many of us didn't put the two events together until much later, an oversight that would cost us dearly. Wyatt, after the death of his son, lost his mind. He blamed the ritual for his son's death and went after the tribe that had assisted in its casting. He died, of course, as attacking an entire tribe alone is a suicide mission. This gave us even more power, and this time it was very noticeable. We all put the puzzle together, but much too late. By the time we realized what was happening, our numbers were too depleted, and many of us didn't trust each other at all."

Everyone was silent for quite a while, before he continued, "Luckily, I think, our newfound power diminishes with use. Slowly, but surely, as our enemy uses the power, he becomes weaker and weaker. He chases us, now, because many of us have used very little of the power afforded to us by the losses of our comrades and their families. Our current plan is to allow him to continually attack and use his power until we can comfortably defeat him." He said this as a way of closing the conversation, and Harry's head was aching from the new information.

"So, how does Giles tie into all this?" Hermione asked, "Are we supposed to believe that he is just a madman with no idea about all of this?"

"Neither," Adam said, "You see, Giles Ganza was an incredibly talented wizard, but he was quite arrogant. I believe he found out about the ritual and decided to take us all down at once. He likely understood very little about the effects of the spell and believed he could defeat all of us. This would have been a fair assumption before the ritual, and we were all bound to our vow not to harm him."

Harry examined the Americans, and decided they were telling the truth, even though the entire situation seemed most unlikely. He, Hermione, and Kingsley decided to sleep on the newfound information, although, he figured, it was unlikely they could sway them from their path even if they decided they wanted to.


	13. International Incident

**Author's Note:** **I'm going to be slowing down the updates, since I'm completely off the template of the original version now, so you can expect another update some time this week if all goes well. This chapter is a bit shorter, but I felt it was important enough in the grand scheme of things to warrant its inclusion. Enjoy, and leave your thoughts in the reviews. Also, I've just realized that the horizontal line doesn't get automatically added from my word documents, so I'll be going through and adding them to the earlier chapters where it should be.**

Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness

Chapter 13: International Incident

"This is a nightmare," Ginny said, after Harry explained the situation, as best he could, given the new information. The previous evening's conversation, although it had answered a great many questions, left him with quite a few more than he started with. Why did they come to Britain, instead of the multitude of other, larger, countries in Europe? Who was their enemy? Clearly, it had to be one of the people involved in the ritual, but if all of them were dead, or presumed dead, how would they find out which one? What exactly was the ritual they used, and could it be undone? Just thinking about all the unknowns made Harry's head ache.

"You've got that right," He said, "What's worse is I'm no longer in a great position to solve anything. Relying on the ministry for information, even with Hermione at the head, is going to be awful." Just then, a slightly familiar owl tapped on the glass of their bedroom. Harry, still unsure of his magical ability, stood up and opened the window manually to retrieve the small letter attached to the leg of the owl.

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

 _We were troubled to hear about the incidents at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Such things should not befall a place meant to shelter the most vulnerable among us. We have received a multitude of letters from the other schools, expressing their concerns for the safety of their students during the upcoming dueling competition. As such, we have decided that, in the interest of student safety, the competition shall be postponed, indefinitely. We do apologize for the inconvenience, and we look forward to the day when we are able to confidently reevaluate our position. We have dispatched a similar letter to the new headmaster._

 _Sincerely,_

 _The Hogwarts Board of Governors_

Harry couldn't pretend to be surprised, he had received no small number of concerned letters from parents and other school officials. He was disappointed, of course, but the only way to change this outcome would be to find his new nemesis and finish this conflict. This turn of events would be wildly unpopular with the students, and he would need to find a way to keep them interested in the dueling club without any major competition to look forward to.

* * *

"As you all know," Harry said, addressing the seventh-year class, "The other participating schools have decided to withdraw from the dueling competition for this year. Under the circumstances, I don't blame them. However, the dueling club's purpose was never just preparing you for a sanctioned competition. The express purpose of this organization is to prepare you for what's out there. Even if, by the end of the school year, we manage to defeat this newfound threat, there will be another. There will always be witches and wizards who use their powers to harm others, and you will always need the skills necessary to protect yourselves from them." The class was silent for his entire short speech, which caused Harry a bit of anxiety, as he had never seen a classroom so quiet for any length of time.

Harry had given this speech to each of the other years' dueling clubs, but this one felt different. These students, at the end of the year, would be thrust out into the real world. He was also certain, given the current circumstances, that some of them would end up directly involved with their current conflict. It was a strange feeling, and he felt he wouldn't ever find the words to express his thoughts on their current situation. He was, fortunately, saved by the bell, or in this case Kingsley's patronus. "Professor Potter, if you would, come to my office at your earliest convenience." The patronus dissipated and Harry dismissed his captive audience before making his way to the headmaster's office at a light jog.

He arrived at the unexpected sight of James and Fred sitting calmly outside the study. His first response was to wonder if they were okay, but they seemed fine and Harry knew that his son and Fred were quite the pranksters, rivaling even the twins and possibly the Marauders. He threw a half-hearted glare at them before marching into the headmaster's study. "What've they done, then?" He asked, and Kingsley laughed.

"I'm afraid McGonagall was right about those two," the former minister said, "they'll be more trouble in their fourth year than the twins were in their last." He sat at his desk and motioned for Harry to take a seat. When he was comfortably seated the headmaster started his story. "We caught your son sneaking into a girl's toilet, I'm afraid," Kingsley started, but when he saw Harry's expression he clarified, "Oh, it was only Myrtle's, so it wasn't for any reasons too nefarious. We found them brewing quite a large amount of Polyjuice potion. They won't tell me what it's for, so I summoned you."

"I'm afraid you've summoned the wrong Potter, headmaster," Harry said, amused at the irony. "Ginny's the one you want for this job. I'll do my best, though."

"Yes, please do," Kingsley said, "It would be cruel to call in the bad cop before the good one."

Kingsley left the study. Shortly after, James and Fred entered. "So, Polyjuice?" Harry asked. They both nodded and Harry, knowing the look on their faces, continued, "The headmaster wants me to ask what it's for, but my first concern is where you got the ingredients." The pair looked at each other, apparently suppressing grins.

"The potions class, in professor Malfoy's personal ingredients closet," Harry could scarcely stand the irony, remembering his misadventures in his second year brewing the same potion, in the same bathroom, with the same stolen ingredients. His thoughts turned to what had become of Hermione when she accidentally used a cat's hair instead of a human's, and he knew what the two boys in front of him were planning.

"I think I know what you two were up to, or at least part of it." Harry said, standing up to pace behind the desk dramatically, "I'm assuming Hermione told you about her experience with using cat hair in the potion?" The boys' surprised expressions told Harry everything he needed to know, "You can answer me, or your mother, it's your choice." James' face turned a light shade of green at the thought.

"We were going to use hair from one of those huge cats at the entrance," he admitted, "and put it in the desert for the end of term feast." His face turned red and Fred elbowed him in the side for giving up their plan. "What?" he asked his friend, "Not like we're going to have it brewed in time anyway."

"Yeah, but we could've tried again after the holiday," Fred said, before adding "idiot." He turned away from James and pouted.

Harry stifled a chuckle, "You two know that with Kingsley in charge, pranks are going to be much harder to pull off. Dumbledore, I suspect, rather enjoyed watching Fred and George's antics." He noticed the portrait of the aforementioned headmaster nod slightly, and continued, "Kingsley, while he may feel the same, will be paying close attention to the two of you. Rightly so, too, because everyone who got a dose of your Polyjuice would end up in the hospital wing, and our new matron would be rather furious with both of you."

Both boys looked down at their feet, Hermione must not have told them that part of the story, "Now, as far as punishments go, you're both clearly decent at potions regardless of what your marks in the class say." Harry smiled slightly, "So, I think you'll both do well to serve your detentions with Professor Malfoy." The looks on the pair's faces told Harry he had made the correct decision.

* * *

Harry continued his rehabilitation, as Hannah put it, at a much slower pace than he would have liked. He could now cast roughly on the level of a fifth year, and he could feel his strength returning. Hannah seemed to compare his magic to a muscle, which put it all into perspective for him, he had always just taken his magic for granted, at least since he had learned who he was. She explained his situation, as if he had torn that muscle, and while it was whole now, he needed to work his way up to being at full strength.

Harry didn't disagree with Hannah's explanation, but he had to try something a bit more drastic. He felt quite exposed without his full strength and, with the darkness still out there, he needed an equalizer. He opened the box containing the elder wand and removed it from its resting place. Almost immediately, he felt his strength return. It was as if a wall inside him had been torn down and all of his power started flowing out from behind it. He pointed the wand at his glass of water from the night before and summoned it. The glass broke from the force of the spell and Harry had to quickly dodge the shards of glass and the water. His power, it seemed, had returned all at once, and he felt stronger than ever. He placed the elder wand in his robes and placed his wand in the lock box in its place.

"I was hoping that was you," Ginny's voice came from the doorway, startling him. "So, you're going to start carrying it?" She had clearly seen him switch the wands, so there was no denying it.

"Just until the threat is gone," He answered, honestly. She didn't seem convinced, and Harry couldn't blame her, he wasn't entirely convinced himself.

"Be careful, Harry," she said, worried, "That wand may help deal with our current problems. But, as long as you're using it there will always be another threat." He knew she was right, as long as he was using the wand in public there would be people tempted to take it from him. He removed his usual wand from the box, deciding to only use the elder wand in dire circumstances.

Those circumstances, it seemed were bound to become dire quite quickly. Hermione's patronus, an otter, appeared in the room and spoke with its owner's voice. "The Burrow, come quickly!"


End file.
